LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

LEARN FRENCH BY PODCAST

AUDIO PODCASTS FOR LEARNERS OF FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Lesson

11

Talking about the weather

Plus Publications Bramley Douglas Road Cork Ireland (t) 353-(0)21-4847444 (f) 353-(0)21-4847675 (e) editor@ (i)

Lesson 11

Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER

? il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] ? il fait 24 degr?s ? ?a nous change de... ? M'en parle pas! ? on a eu...

Dialogue

Hello again from Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and joining me in the studio today is Am?lie Verdier ? bonjour Am?lie!

Bonjour!

... and Julien Gruet ? bonjour Julien! Bonjour!

Note!

il risque d'y avoir... This expression means There's a risk of (there being)... In this context, it means "There's a risk of thunder..."

Today's short podcast will give us some vocabulary to discuss the weather. Let's listen first to a short conversation...

Bonjour! Bonjour!

Il fait beau aujourd'hui! Oui, il n'y a pas un seul nuage ? l'horizon!

En plus il fait chaud! Je pense qu'il fait au moins 24 degr?s. C'est agr?able!

Oui, mais s'il fait trop chaud, il risque d'y avoir de l'orage dans la soir?e! J'ai peur de l'orage! Surtout lorsque qu'il y a beaucoup d'?clairs et du tonnerre! En tout cas, ?a nous change d'il y a une semaine! Il faisait un temps de chien! M'en parle pas! Je pense qu'on a tout eu! Gr?le, pluie, vent! Je d?teste quand je dois sortir et qu'il pleut des cordes!

Remember!

avoir peur de [= to be afraid]

j'ai

| peur de l'orage

nous avons |

Note the use of the verb avoir in French. The expression really means to have fear of (something).

Remember!

il y a This expression can mean There is / are or, in this case, ago: Il y a une semaine = a week ago

Now, let's hear all that once again... Bonjour! Bonjour! [...]

And one final time... Bonjour! Bonjour! [...]

Note!

? pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse ...

When you described today's weather, Julien, you said... faire [in

Il fait beau.

relation to

the weather]

Il fait..., that's the verb faire. We'd use this verb, too, if we

said the weather was bad. In this case we'd say...

Il fait mauvais.

The verb faire appeared again when you mentioned today's temperature. You said...

Il fait au moins 24 degr?s.

Il pleut comme vache qui pisse! means It's raining like... well, you can guess, can't you? Similar in meaning ? but less colourful ? is the expression: Il pleut des cordes.

Where you see this symbol...

... it's your turn to repeat what you've heard. Then we'll repeat once more.

And, yet again, we heard the verb faire when you worried that it might get too hot. That expression was...

S'il fait trop chaud...

Now, to simplify things for a moment, and practice using this verb, the expression ?It's hot!? is...

Il fait chaud. Il fait chaud.

pleuvoir [= to rain] il pleut.....................it's raining il a plu......................it rained il pleuvra.................it will rain

Note that pleuvoir is "an impersonal verb": it's used only in the 3rd person singular, that, is with the pronoun il.

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Lesson 11

Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER

? il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] ? il fait 24 degr?s ? ?a nous change de... ? M'en parle pas! ? on a eu...

Dialogue

It's very hot is... Il fait tr?s chaud. Il fait tr?s chaud.

And, it's too hot is... Il fait trop chaud. Il fait trop chaud.

In the middle of winter, we might talk of the cold... Il fait froid. Il fait froid.

It's very cold... Il fait tr?s froid. Il fait tr?s froid.

And, it's too cold... Il fait trop froid. Il fait trop froid.

Remember!

tr?s........................... very trop.......................... too

Remember!

In relation to... We say...

the weather Il fait beau.

objects

C'est chaud.

oneself*

J'ai chaud.

That's the verb... faire ?tre avoir

*In this conversation, we didn't hear "J'ai chaud/froid". Remember, however, that "avoir" is used when we wish to say that we, ourselves, are hot/cold. We'll meet this expression in future lessons.

Now, we must point out that the use of the verb faire in these cases relates to the weather. On the other hand, if we're talking about an object being hot, for example the cooker, in that case we use the verb ?tre. We might warn a child who was about to approach a fire...

?Attentionau feu! C'est chaud!?

That's "C'est chaud..." ? the verb ?tre. If we were to say ?Your hands are cold?, we'd hear...

Tes mains sont froides.

We have the feminine plural form of the adjective ? "...froides" ? as we are describing someone's hands and "la main" is feminine. So remember, ?faire? for the weather, ??tre? for objects.

Am?lie, we heard you mention that there was a change from a week ago. You said...

?a nous change d'il y a une semaine.

?a nous change de...

Let's hear that once again... ?a nous change d'il y a une semaine. ?a nous change d'il y a une semaine.

Where you see this symbol...

... it's your turn to repeat what you've heard. Then we'll repeat once more.

Literally, ?It changes us...? though, in English, we simply say ?It has changed ...?.

Am?lie, ?There's been a change since a month ago...? would be...

?a nous change d'il y a un mois. ?a nous change d'il y a un mois.

Remember!

une semaine...........a week un mois....................a month un an*......................a year *"A year"can also be une ann?e. As a general rule, une ann?e is found in more specific contexts: ? l'ann?e scolaire (the school year) ? depuis le d?but de l'ann?e (since the start of the year)

?a

?a is an abbreviation of the word Cela (= "That..."). Cela can be quite emphatic, as in the following examples: ? Cela ne fait aucun doute. [= There's no doubt about that.] ? Cela nous rassure. [= That reassures us.]

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Lesson 11

Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER

? il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] ? il fait 24 degr?s ? ?a nous change de... ? M'en parle pas! ? on a eu...

Dialogue

... and, from a year ago... ?a nous change d'il y a un an. ?a nous change d'il y a un an.

Not only in relation to the weather, but in a wide variety of contexts, we would use the expression ?Don't talk to me!? or ?Don't mention that!?. In French, we have the expression...

M'en parle pas!

negative imperative

In fact, this negative imperative is Ne m'en parle pas! but remember, in quick, spoken French, the initial ?Ne...? tends not to be heard. Let's hear that once more...

[Ne] m'en parle pas! [Ne] m'en parle pas!

You said we had had [a bit of] everything recently ? hail, avoir, au pass?

rain, wind. How did you say that again?...

compos?

Je pense qu'on a tout eu.

That is, ?I think we've had everything.? The easiest way of remembering this expression is simply to learn the sound of the pattern. Let's hear it again: the first part is...

Je pense ...

... followed by: ... qu'on a tout eu. ... qu'on a tout eu ? "... that we have had everything".

?On a...? ? that's the auxiliary verb ?avoir?, followed by "... eu", the past participle of the verb ?avoir?! In other words, ?We have had...?. Let's put this expression to work:

"We have had thunder." On a eu du tonnerre. On a eu du tonnerre.

"We have had lightning." On a eu des ?clairs. On a eu des ?clairs.

"We have had rain." On a eu de la pluie. On a eu de la pluie.

Where you see this symbol...

... it's your turn to repeat what you've heard. Then we'll repeat once more.

And... unrelated to the weather: ?We have had visitors? or simply: ?We had visitors...? would be...

On a eu des invit?s. On a eu des invit?s.

imperative

The Imperative This is the form of the verb we use when we are ordering or directing someone to do something.

In this situation (on the left), what we are really saying is: "Don't [you] talk to me about that!" "Ne m'en parle pas!" comes from the 2nd person singular of the verb "parler", a regular"?er"verb.

In the case of "?er" verbs, the "s" of the 2nd person singular is dropped in the imperative:

Tu parles a Parle! (No "s" in the imperative form.)

verb

avoir [= to have] j'ai tu as il / elle / on a nous avons vous avez ils / elles ont

past participle: eu

Note!

The pronoun "on" means one, people, we, depending on the context.

Here, we could also have: ? Nous avons eu des ?clairs.

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? Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

Lesson 11 Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER

? il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid] ? il fait 24 degr?s ? ?a nous change de... ? M'en parle pas! ? on a eu...

Am?lie and Julien, we've covered a lot of ground today: we've seen several uses of the verb faire, we know how to describe objects as being hot or cold, we can direct people not to do something and finally, we've used the verb "avoir" in the past. Until next time!

A la prochaine.

Now it's your turn... Dialogue

If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for...

1. It's cold today. 2. It's hot today.

... film? d'une fa?on [...]

3. It's cold. [In this case, you're talking about the surface of something, i.e. la surface.]

4. We've had a surprise! [une surprise]

5. I've had a disrupted afternoon. [un apr?s-midi perturb?]

click!

mignon, mignonne See the answers at

Any questions?...

Submit them to us at click!

Any comments?...

Submit them to us at click!

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Vocab extra!

? agr?able................... pleasant ? aujourd'hui.............. today ? beaucoup................. a lot, many ? cas, en tout ~.......... in any case ? d?tester................... to detest, to

hate ? devoir....................... to have to ? ?clair (m)................. (flash of)

lightning ? gr?le (f)................... hail ? horizon, ? l'~........... on the horizon ? invit? (m)................. guest ? lorsque..................... when ? moins, au ~............. at least ? nuage (m)................ cloud ? orage (m)................. storm ? penser...................... to think ? peur (f).................... fear ? peur, avoir ~ de....... to be afraid of ? pisser(!).................... to piss(!) ? pleuvoir des cordes.. to lash with

rain ? pluie (f).................... rain ? quand...................... when ? seul.......................... single, lone ? soir?e (f).................. evening ? sortir........................ to go out ? surtout..................... especially ? tonnerre (m)............ thunder ? tr?s.......................... very ? trop.......................... too ? vache (f).................. cow ? vent (m)................... wind

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