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Lesson
Did you see? The towns are all decorated

88

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

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Dialogue

Though France could not be described as a religious country, Christmas is widely celebrated in French towns and cities, with children eagerly anticipating the arrival of Santa Claus. But what about the vocabulary related to this festive season ? Christmas trees, decorations, Christmas markets, red ribbons, gifts lets study some of the key expressions. Well start with a role-play Amlie Xavier Amlie Tu as vu ? Toutes les villes sont maintenant dcores pour Nol ! Bah heureusement ! On est quand mme fin dcembre ! Et les marchs de Nol sont ouverts depuis le premier dcembre ! Jadore me promener dans les marchs de Nol ! a sent la tartiflette, le vin chaud, et les pices ! Toutes ces odeurs qui me rappellent les Nols de mon enfance ! Oui, jaime beaucoup flner au march de Nol, les petits chalets en bois, les rubans rouges, les chocolats ! En plus, jen profite pour faire mes derniers achats. Il y a toujours plein dides cadeaux ! Tu as raison, il est impossible de rentrer la maison sans avoir un ou deux sacs chaque main ! Au fait, tu as achet un sapin de Nol ? Oui, et cette anne, jai pens lenvironnement ! Jai achet un vrai sapin de Nol en pot, comme a, une fois les ftes termines, je vais le planter dans le jardin et je lutiliserai nouveau lanne prochaine ! Moi, je fais la mme chose ! Mon sapin a trois ans maintenant. Si bien quon a d lui couper la tte pour le faire rentrer dans la maison ! Les enfants sont si heureux de le dcorer chaque anne ! Oui, cest agrable les ftes de fin danne ! Tout le monde veut faire plaisir tout le monde, on souffle un peu avant la nouvelle anne, on se repose ! Ah, vivement les vacances !

Note
Toutes les villes [f pl] [= All the towns / cities ] Note the feminine plural form of the adjective, tout, above. It agrees with the towns les villes. Consider also : Tous les Europens que je connais [= All the Europeans I know ] Il a domin tout le monde de la tte des paules [= He was head and shoulders above everybody else (lit. He dominated everybody from )] Toute la famille est impatiente de mieux la connatre. [= The whole family is eager to (get to) know her better.]

Xavier

Amlie Xavier

Note
Jadore me promener [f pl] [= I love walking / to walk ] We must remember to use the appropriate reflexive pronoun before the infinitive of the verb. Consider also : Elle adore se promener [= She loves walking / to walk ] Nous adorons nous promener [= We love walking / to walk ] Ils adorent se promener [= They love walking / to walk ]

Amlie

Xavier

Note
le marchs de Nol [= the Christmas markets] The diaresis le trma results in separate and distinct pronuniciations of both syllables : No l. Consider the effect of le trma in the adjective naf, nave (f) [= naive, innocent] and in the verb har [= to hate, to detest : ils se hassent [= they detest each other]] (har is pronounced like ah-eer.)

Note
ces odeurs me rappellent [= the smells remind me of / recall (to mind)] Watch the pronunciation when using the verb rappeler in the Present Tense ! The ending is silent. Well use the 3rd person singular frequently, too, when talking about a photo, or whatever : Cette photo me rappelle de bon souvenirs. [= This photo recalls happy memories.] Note that the pronunciation of 3rd person singular and plural is exactly the same : rappelle / rappellent

Note
flner au march [= to stroll / wander around the market]

Note
jen profite [= I take advantage of it in order to ] The pronoun en, in this case, refers to the action of wandering / strolling around the market.

Where you see this symbol its your turn to repeat what youve heard. Then well repeat once more.

Note
les pices [= spices] If we take the feminine noun une pice and change it slightly, putting an e-accent-aigu at the end, we get spicy : pic

Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Dialogue

Lets hear this dialogue one more time. Amlie Xavier Amlie Tu as vu ? Toutes les villes sont maintenant dcores pour Nol ! Bah heureusement ! On est quand mme fin dcembre ! Et les marchs de Nol sont ouverts depuis le premier dcembre ! Jadore me promener dans les marchs de Nol ! a sent la tartiflette, le vin chaud, et les pices ! Toutes ces odeurs qui me rappellent les Nols de mon enfance ! Oui, jaime beaucoup flner au march de Nol, les petits chalets en bois, les rubans rouges, les chocolats ! En plus, jen profite pour faire mes derniers achats. Il y a toujours plein dides cadeaux ! Tu as raison, il est impossible de rentrer la maison sans avoir un ou deux sacs chaque main ! Au fait, tu as achet un sapin de Nol ? Oui, et cette anne, jai pens lenvironnement ! Jai achet un vrai sapin de Nol en pot, comme a, une fois les ftes termines, je vais le planter dans le jardin et je lutiliserai nouveau lanne prochaine ! Moi, je fais la mme chose ! Mon sapin a trois ans maintenant. Si bien quon a d lui couper la tte pour le faire rentrer dans la maison ! Les enfants sont si heureux de le dcorer chaque anne ! Oui, cest agrable les ftes de fin danne ! Tout le monde veut faire plaisir tout le monde, on souffle un peu avant la nouvelle anne, on se repose ! Ah, vivement les vacances !

Note
Il y a toujours plein dides cadeaux ! [= There are always lots of gift ideas !] plein de is a colloquial equivalent of beaucoup de [= many] : il y a plein de gens dans la rue. [= there are lots of people in the street.] As a quantifier, plein (de) simply means full : On a fait le plein du stade pour ce match. [= They filled the stadium for this / that match.] un plein (dessence) [= a fill (of petrol)] plein despoir pour leur avenir [= full of hope for their future]

Xavier

Amlie Xavier

Note
Tu as raison, [= You are right, ] avoir raison is one of a set of expressions which requires the use of avoir. Tas raison ! Moi, jai tort. [= Youre right ! Im wrong.] Consider other expressions requiring avoir : avoir | raison = to be right | tort = to be wrong | froid = to be cold* | chaud = to be hot* | faim = to be hungry | soif = to be thirsty | peur = to be afraid | honte = to be ashamed *avoir is used when referring to a person (or persons) who is / are cold / hot. (In the case of an object, tre is used. For the (ambient) temperature, faire is used.)

Amlie

Xavier

Note
Comme a, [= (In) that way, ] Consider another example : Cest comme a quil gagne sa vie maintenant. [ Thats how he makes a living now. (lit. Its (in) that way that he makes )]

Note
une fois les ftes termines, [= Once the celebrations [are] over ] It occasionally happens, as in the example above, that French does not require a verb (where English does, in fact, require one). Consider another example : Une fois (quelle sera) partie, [= Once she has left, ]

Note Note
Where you see this symbol its your turn to repeat what youve heard. Then well repeat once more.

complment dobjet direct (direct object pronoun) ! it (i.e. le sapin)

Je vais le planter [= Im going to plant it] Je l utiliserai [= I will use it]

chaque main. [= in each hand.] Note the use of the preposition in French. Consider also : avec une fourchette la main. [= with a fork in his / her hand. [The definite article la is used: whether were talking about his or her hand will be obvious from the context.]] la main can also mean manually or by hand, as in the following example : La cueillette des raisons est encore pratique la main. [Grape-picking is still practised by hand.]

Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Dialogue

Amlie, you referred to the Christmas markets. Whether referring to a market in town, the black market, the free market, well need to know the noun le march le march The Christmas markets les marchs de Nol have been open in France since December 1st. To convey that something has been happening since a particular point in time, well use depuis, followed by the present. So, Amlie, your comment was les marchs de Nol sont ouverts depuis le premier dcembre. les marchs de Nol sont ouverts depuis le premier dcembre. Lets take another example with depuis. For a few hours, hes been feeling unwell Depuis quelques heures, il se sent mal. Depuis quelques heures, il se sent mal. To take an example like we might hear on the evening news, how about : For 45 years, the Burmese people have been living under a military dictatorship Depuis 45 ans, le peuple birman vit sous une dictature militaire. Depuis 45 ans, le peuple birman vit sous une dictature militaire. To get back to our conversation, you said I like walking through the Christmas markets. This should be easy. To like, as we know, is aimer. And we follow this by an infinitive. Our infinitive here is the reflexive verb se promener to walk, that is. And, of course, we must change the reflexive pronoun depending on the context. Lets listen again Jaime me promener dans les marchs. Jaime me promener dans les marchs. If we were talking about Xavier, we would say Il aime se promener dans les marchs. Il aime se promener dans les marchs. So, lets not forget to use the correct reflexive pronoun, as the situation demands.

un march

Note
le march. [= the market.] Consider some other uses of this noun : Les grandes surfaces ont fait disparatre de nombreux petits commerces. En revanche, les marchs traditionnels rsistent merveille dans les villes et les bourgades. [= The hypermarkets have caused many small businesses to disappear. However, the traditional markets have resisted wonderfully in the cities and small towns.] Jai fait le tour dun march local un samedi matin. [= I did a tour of a local market one Saturday morning.] Il ny a pas de comparaison entre ce quils vendent et ce que lon trouve sur les marchs. [= Theres no comparison between what they sell and what one finds in the markets.]

vivre

Note
le peuple birman vit sous [= the Burmese people live under ] Note the use of the Present Tense (3rd person) of vivre to live. Consider other tenses of this same verb. Note in particular the past participle vcu in the pass compos (2nd example, below) : Sa petite amie, qui sappelait Jeanne, vivait en cosse. [= His girlfriend, whose name was Jeanne, was living in Scotland.] Ils ont vcu Lyon pendant deux ans. [= They lived in Lyon for two years.]

Note
le peuple birman vit [= the Burmese people live ] Note, also, that le peuple though it refers to many people is a collective singular noun and requires the 3rd person singular of the verb.

Where you see this symbol its your turn to repeat what youve heard. Then well repeat once more.

Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Dialogue

In a recent lesson, Amlie, we used the expression That smells minty . The formula required the verb sentir to smell, followed by a noun. On that occasion, you said a sent la menthe. a sent la menthe. In this dialogue, theres a similar expression. You said theres a smell of la tartiflette, a typical smell one finds during the cold weather. That is a sent la tartiflette. a sent la tartiflette. And of course, two indispensable variations on this are simply a sent bon ! and a sent mauvais !

Note
quelque chose que jai vue [= something I saw on TV ] Were used to seeing examples of the pass compos with auxiliary verb avoir. For example 1. Jai vu un film hier soir. 2. Elles ont vu un film hier soir. 3. Nous avons achet quelque chose en ville. Note, in particular, examples 1 and 2 above. The past participle (of the verb voir) remains unchanged, regardless of the subject or object of the sentence. This is what we normally expect of the pass compos with avoir : in other words there is no agreement of the past participle. However When avoir is used as auxiliary, we must watch out for a preceding direct object, that is, an object which precedes the verb in the sentence. Consider our example again : quelque chose que jai vue [= something I saw] In this case, que is a relative / direct object pronoun and refers to a feminine noun la chose. Because of this preceding direct object pronoun, agreement of the past participle is necessary, hence the additional e on vu. pass compos with auxiliary verb avoir : agreement of past participle in the case of direct object pronouns 1 relative / direct object pronoun : que 2 auxiliary verb : avoir 3 past participle : vu

which well use when something smells either good, or bad, respectively. All these fragrances in town recall the Christmases of your childhood, Amlie. To recall, or simply to remember is rappeler a variation on the verb appeler. Lets hear how you said : All these smells remind me of the Christmases of my childhood, while making sure to listen out for this verb rappeler Toutes ces odeurs me rappellent les Nols de mon enfance. Toutes ces odeurs me rappellent les Nols de mon enfance. Lets take another example with rappeler. How about This article reminds me of something I saw on TV Cet article me rappelle quelque chose que jai vue la tl. Cet article me rappelle quelque chose que jai vue la tl. Xavier, too, liked strolling around, ambling through the markets. In French, Amlie, you have an easy verb for to stroll or to amble : thats flner flner
Where you see this symbol its your turn to repeat what youve heard. Then well repeat once more.

preceding direct object pronoun

quelque chose que j ai vue la tl

! The past participle agrees in number and gender with the preceding direct object que which itself refers to the feminine noun, la chose. Hence, the nal e.

Lets hear what Xavier said Jaime beaucoup flner au march. Jaime beaucoup flner au march.

Finally Consider the following two expressions : 1. Jai vu une personne. 2. une personne que jai vue. In each case, une personne is the direct object pronoun. However, in example 2, this object pronoun precedes the auxiliary verb, avoir. Therefore, an additional e is required on the past participle. In other words, the past participle agrees in number and gender with the preceding direct object pronoun.

Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Dialogue

Xavier said that he takes advantage of this strolling around to make a few last-minute purchases. to take advantage of or to benefit from is profiter de. Lets hear this verb in context Jen profite pour faire mes derniers achats. Jen profite pour faire mes derniers achats. Another example is : Im in Paris for a few days. Im taking advantage of that to visit the Louvre. We would say Je passe quelques jours Paris. Jen profite pour visiter le Louvre. Je passe quelques jours Paris. Jen profite pour visiter le Louvre. On the subject of Christmas trees les sapins de Nol Xavier thought of the environment. He bought a real, potted, Christmas tree which he could reuse from year to year. To think of or to think about is penser . Penser is an easy 1st Group verb, but we need to watch the preposition which follows. Lets listen again Jai pens lenvironnement. Jai pens lenvironnement. How about a different example : I thought of you ! Jai pens toi. Jai pens toi. So, Xavier said I will use it again thats the future tense of the verb utiliser, to use. There are several ways of saying again sometimes well use the word encore and sometimes, as in this case, well use the expression nouveau. Specifically, Xavier said Je lutiliserai nouveau. Je lutiliserai nouveau. Of course, if we were talking about reusing several items, our object pronoun would change to les Je les utiliserai nouveau. Je les utiliserai nouveau. Amlie, you had bought one of these potted trees, too. Your tree was doing so well that you had to cut the top off it to get it into the house ! Lets hear how you said : We had to cut the top off it Once again, well have devoir in the pass compos On a d lui couper la tte. On a d lui couper la tte. Lets practice this a little more. How about We had to cut some branches off it. On a d lui couper quelques branches. On a d lui couper quelques branches.

en

Note
jen profite pour [= I take advantage of it (in order) to ] en is a powerful word ! It is not always immediately obvious what en refers to : in the first example on the left, it refers to the act of strolling around (the town / market) while, in the second example it refers to the act of spending a few days in Paris.

Note
lui, indirect object pronoun
On a d lui couper la tte [= We had to cut the head off it ] The indirect object pronoun lui can refer to a masculine or feminine noun. In this case, its le sapin (de Nol) were referring to.

Where you see this symbol its your turn to repeat what youve heard. Then well repeat once more.

Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Dialogue

And, how about the expression to get it back into the house ? To convey the meaning to make it come back into the house, well have faire followed by the infinitive rentrer pour le faire rentrer dans la maison. pour le faire rentrer dans la maison. Finally, Amlie, Xavier said that the end of the year was a nice time. Everybody wants to please everybody, he said. to please someone is faire plaisir quelquun. Lets listen, specifically to what Xavier said Tout le monde veut faire plaisir tout le monde. Tout le monde veut faire plaisir tout le monde. Lets practice the expression faire plaisir a little more. How about She is always trying to please him Elle essaie toujours de lui faire plaisir. Elle essaie toujours de lui faire plaisir. Or, She is always trying to please them Elle essaie toujours de leur faire plaisir. Elle essaie toujours de leur faire plaisir.

le / la / les direct object pronoun

Note
pour le faire rentrer dans la maison. [= to get it back into the house.] If it referred to a feminine noun, we would say : pour la faire rentrer dans la maison. In the case of several items we were struggling to get back into the house, our formula would be : pour les faire rentrer dans la maison.

Amlie, weve studied at least some of the words and expressions to allow us talk about the festive season. Lets listen to the dialogue one final time to consolidate everything and, to our listeners, dont forget the accompanying Lesson Guide, available from our website at www. learnfrenchbypodcast.com. Heres that exchange one final time Amlie Xavier Amlie Tu as vu ? Toutes les villes sont maintenant dcores pour Nol ! Bah heureusement ! On est quand mme fin dcembre ! Et les marchs de Nol sont ouverts depuis le premier dcembre ! Jadore me promener dans les marchs de Nol ! a sent la tartiflette, le vin chaud, et les pices ! Toutes ces odeurs qui me rappellent les Nols de mon enfance ! Oui, jaime beaucoup flner au march de Nol, les petits chalets en bois, les rubans rouges, les chocolats ! En plus, jen profite pour faire mes derniers achats. Il y a toujours plein dides cadeaux !

Xavier

Where you see this symbol its your turn to repeat what youve heard. Then well repeat once more.

Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.

Lesson 88 : Thursday, December 27th, 2007 Level : intermediate. Did you see? The towns are all decorated
un march : [a market] vivre : [to live, to exist, to experience] preceding direct object pronoun en lui, leur : [indirect object pronouns] le, la, les : [direct object pronouns]

Vocab extra !
achat (m) ...............purchase anne (f)................year bien, si ~ que ........such that bois (m) .................wood cadeau (m) ............gift ce, cette .................this chalet (m) ..............chalet, shed chaque ...................each chaud.....................hot chose (f) ................thing couper ...................to cut dcor ....................decorated depuis ....................since dernier ...................last enfance (f) .............childhood pice (f) .................spice fait, au ~ ...............by the way fte (f) ...................feast, party, festivity fin (f) .....................end flner .....................to stroll, to amble fois (f) ....................time, occasion heureusement .......thankfully, happily heureux .................happy ide (f)...................idea jardin (m) ..............garden main (f) .................hand maintenant............now march (m) ............market mme ....................same mme, quand ~ ....after all monde, tout le ~ ...everybody Nol .......................Christmas nouveau, ~ .........again odeur (f) ................odour, fragrance ouvert ....................open planter ...................to plant plus, en ~ ..............furthermore pot, en ~ ...............potted pour .......................for premier ..................first prochain ................next promener, se ~ ......to walk raison, avoir ~ .......to be right rappeler .................to remind, to recall rentrer, ~ la maison to go (back) home reposer, se ~ ..........to rest rouge .....................red ruban (m) ..............ribbon sapin (m) ...............pine (tree) souffle....................to breathe souhaiter ...............to wish tartiflette (f) ..........tartiflette termin ..................finished tte (f) ...................head tout, toute .............all utiliser ...................to use ville (f) ...................town, city vin (m) ...................wine vivement, ~ les vacances! I cant wait for the holidays!

Dialogue
Now its your turn

Amlie Xavier

Amlie

Xavier

Tu as raison, il est impossible de rentrer la maison sans avoir un ou deux sacs chaque main ! Au fait, tu as achet un sapin de Nol ? Oui, et cette anne, jai pens lenvironnement ! Jai achet un vrai sapin de Nol en pot, comme a, une fois les ftes termines, je vais le planter dans le jardin et je lutiliserai nouveau lanne prochaine ! Moi, je fais la mme chose ! Mon sapin a trois ans maintenant. Si bien quon a d lui couper la tte pour le faire rentrer dans la maison ! Les enfants sont si heureux de le dcorer chaque anne ! Oui, cest agrable les ftes de fin danne ! Tout le monde veut faire plaisir tout le monde, on souffle un peu avant la nouvelle anne, on se repose ! Ah, vivement les vacances !

Amlie, thats it for today. Until next time je te souhaite un joyeux Nol ! Joyeux Nol la prochaine !

If you understood our lesson, then you should be able to translate

1. That reminds me of something I heard yesterday. 2. She likes strolling around town. 3. You cant walk in a town in the south of France without happening upon a game of boules. [tomber sur; partie (f); ptanque (f)] 4. The children are cold. 5. Theyre wrong! 6. What do you have in your hand? click! 7. Jack lived in Japan for several years. 8. The sweets I ate were delicious! [bonbon (m); dlicieux] 9. Did you see the letters we received this morning? [lettre (f); recevoir] 10. We received letters this morning. See how you have fared in the exercise above by clicking on the graphic. (Well post the answers on our website shortly after this lesson has been released.)

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Plus Publications, 2007. All rights reserved.