Learn French with Friends: How Joey Keeps a Secret

Chandler and Monica are secretly having a love affair. Only Joey knows about it, but he
has sworn not to tell anyone. Keep watching to find out the surprising and risky way he
manages to keep their secret.

I’ll be breaking down the French as we watch so that you can follow along without
missing any of the jokes.

Let’s get started!

- C'était vraiment très marrant.

- Je me demandais si tu allais m'inviter à sortir avec toi.

If something is “marrant,” that means it’s “fun” or “funny.”

For example, you could say:

- Je regarde une vidéo très marrante.
- I'm watching a very funny video.

But in this case, “marrant” is more like “fun,” so Joey’s date is saying that they had a fun
time.

- Je me demandais si tu allais m'inviter à sortir avec toi.

The verb “sortir” means “to go out.” So “Sortir avec quelqu’un” means “to go out with
someone” or “to date someone.”

For example:
- J’aimerais sortir avec elle.
- I’d like to go out with her.

So, “Je me demandais si tu allais m'inviter à sortir avec toi” literally translates to: “I
was wondering if you were going to invite me to go out with you.”

But in English we would just say: “I was wondering if you were going to ask me out.”

- Et maintenant, tu poses toujours la question ?

The phrase “poser une question” means “to ask a question.” Now you might be thinking:
“What’s up with ‘poser’? The verb ‘to ask’ in French is ‘demander.’” And you’d be right!
Most of the time.

In general you use the verb “demander.” For example:

- Je lui ai demandé l'heure.
- I asked him for the time.

But “demander” can't be used with the word “question.” In that case you have to use
“poser.”

For example:
- Est-ce que je peux te poser une question ?
- Can I ask you a question?

So Joey is saying “Are you still asking the question of whether I’ll ask you out?” Or
“Are you still wondering whether I’ll ask you out?”

- Non, on vient de le faire à l'instant.

So is Joey’s date still wondering if he’ll ask her out? No, because they just went out!

Let’s talk about the expression “venir de.” The verb “venir” means “to come.” So “Venir
de” can mean “to come from.” For example:
- Je viens de New York.
- I come from New York.

But when it comes before an infinitive verb, “venir de” means something else. It means
that something just happened.

For example:
- Je viens de me réveiller.
- I just woke up.

Or
- Il vient de terminer ses études.
- He just finished his studies.

And this is one of the things that’s always tricky when you’re learning a foreign
language. You may think you know the meaning of a word, but it often changes
depending on context. So as a result you get lost or you spend forever searching
through websites for the correct definition.

But when you watch videos on FluentU, the interactive subtitles give you the exact
definition of words and phrases in that specific context. So if we click on “viens de” in
the subtitles here, we get the correct definition: it means “just” and not “to come from.”
And we can even use the video dictionary to see other real-life examples of how it’s
used.

“À l'instant” means “just now.” Or, literally, “at the instant.”

So altogether, “On vient de le faire à l'instant. Means “We just did it just now.” This
sentence sounds a bit redundant in English, but it’s a common phrasing in French.

- T’es maline toi. Ah, j'adore ça.

“Malin” (or in this case “maline” the feminine version) means “clever” or “cunning.”

So Joey is saying, “You’re clever. I love that!”

- Des bougies ! Oh, c’est gentil.

“C’est gentil” is a common expression that can mean “how nice,” “that’s nice,” or even
“that’s kind of you.”

For example, if a friend offered to help you move, you could respond with:
- Merci, c’est gentil !
- Thank you, that’s kind of you!

In our scene, Joey’s date is saying “Candles! Oh, how nice!”

- Mais c'est une couverture ça. Et une caméra vidéo. C'est pas vrai !

Literally, “C’est pas vrai” translates to “it’s not true.” But when it’s used as an
exclamation like this, it expresses disbelief. It’s like saying “I don't believe it!” or “Are you
kidding me?”

For example, when Joey first found out about Chandler and Monica’s secret relationship
he could have responded with “Non, c’est pas vrai !” “No, I don’t believe it!”
- Non, non, non !
- Je n’en reviens pas que tu aies pu croire que tu allais pouvoir nous filmer faisant
l'amour le premier soir.

“Je n’en reviens pas” is another phrase used to express disbelief. Literally it translates
to “I’m not coming back from it.” But what it really means is “I can’t believe it” or “I can’t
get over it.”

Now you might be wondering why she says “que tu aies pu croire.” Well “aies” is the
verb “avoir” conjugated in the subjunctive. In this case, the subjunctive is used because
she’s expressing an opinion about something. She’s saying that she can’t believe that
he would do this.

Here’s another example of using the subjunctive to express an opinion:

- Je suis content que tu aies beaucoup d’amis.
- I’m happy that you have lots of friends.

Notice that the subjunctive always uses “que” in the middle of the sentence.

The subjunctive is also used to express necessities. For example:

- Il faut que tu prennes un taxi.
- You have to take a taxi.

Back in our original sentence, “pu” is just the past tense of the verb “pouvoir” so it
translates to “could.”

So the whole sentence is: “Je n’en reviens pas que tu aies pu croire que tu allais
pouvoir nous filmer faisant l'amour le premier soir.” Which means: “I can’t believe that
you could think you would be able to film us making love the first evening.”

- Salut

“Salut” is probably the most common greeting used among friends (no pun intended).
So you’ll very often greet a friend with “Salut ! Ça va ?” “Hey! How are you?”

It can also be used as a goodbye. For example:

- Salut ! À la prochaine !
- Bye! See you next time!

In more formal contexts, however, or with people you don’t know, it’s better to stick to
“bonjour” and “au revoir.”
- J'aimerais savoir si ce que cette jeune fille vient de dire est— Oh mince alors !

If you remember from earlier in the video, “vient de” means “just” in this context. So
Rachel is saying “I’d like to know if what this young lady just said is—” But then she
sees the camera and the blankets and exclaims: “Mince alors !”

In this context, the best translation for this exclamation is probably “oh my god.” But in
other settings “mince alors” or just “mince” could mean “Gosh” or “Darn.”

For example:
- Mince ! On a laissé le bébé dans le bus.
- Darn! We left the baby on the bus.

- Alors t’avais vraiment l'intention de…

“Avoir l’intention de” means “to intend to” do something or “to be planning on” doing
something.

So Rachel is saying “So you were really planning on… ??”

- Je peux savoir ce qui se passe ici ?

The verb “passer” on its own can mean “to pass” like in English. But the verb “se
passer” means “to happen” or “to go on.”

So if you want to say “What’s happening?” or “What’s going on?,” you would say
“Qu'est-ce qui se passe?”

Another example would be:

- Ça s'est passé très vite.
- It happened very quickly.

So Chandler is saying: “Can I ask what’s going on here?”

- Et t’aurais fait ça avec Chandler dans la pièce d'à côté ? Mais t’es pas bien toi !

“Tu aurais” means “you would have.” This is an example of the past tense of the
Conditional Mood, which is used to talk about hypothetical situations or events. In
English we use “would have” or “could have” to express this.
For example:
- J’aurais aimé des vacances plus longues.
- I would have liked a longer vacation.

Next, “une pièce” means a room. You can also use the word “chambre” but that’s more
often used to refer specifically to a bedroom.

And finally, “T’es pas bien” literally translates to “you’re not well.” So in this context what
it means is “There’s something wrong with you.” or “What’s the matter with you?”

So altogether, Rachel is saying “And you would have done that with Chandler in the
next room?? There’s something wrong with you!”

- Je suis Joey. Et oui, je suis un gros dégoûtant.

The adjective “dégoûtant” means “disgusting.”

For example:
- Ce dessert est vraiment dégoûtant.
- This dessert is really disgusting.

But in this case, “dégoûtant” is actually a noun. Joey is saying “je suis un gros
dégoûtant.” So “un dégoûtant” means a disgusting person, or a pig.

- Je fais des films pour adultes à très petit budget.

“Je fais des films pour adultes à très petit budget.” means “I make very low-budget adult
films.”

The opposite of “à très petit budget” would be “à gros budget.” So a Hollywood movie
would be “un film à gros budget.”