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OF FRENCH Lesson
2
AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE

Talking about friends

and family

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 Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Level: beginner.
• the verbs “avoir”, “passer” and “lire”
• saying how you get on with people
• speaking about things in general
• talking about playing instruments
• adjectives ending in “–if”
Dialogue

Hello once again, and welcome to Learn French by

Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and here with me is
Amélie Verdier. Welcome back, Amélie!
Bonjour!

Today we’re going to talk about friends and family. To get

started, Amélie, let’s hear a little about your own friends
and family. We’ll hear what you have to say 3 times, as
usual, right?
Bien sûr!

On y va!
J’ai une soeur. Ma soeur s’appelle Aurélia et elle
a dix-huit ans. Elle habite avec mes parents dans Remember!
le sud de la France. Elle passe, cette année, son
baccalauréat. Je m’entends bien avec elle. Elle est “le baccalauréat”
très littéraire, elle aime la musique et la lecture. This is the final exam in French
secondary schools. By students, it is
Excellent. Now, you’re going to tell us a little more later, almost invariably referred to simply
as “le bac”.
but let’s deal with this part first. Let’s hear that a second
time… “le brevet”
J’ai une soeur. […] This exam takes place at the end of
Junior High School.

Ok. And a final time…

J’ai une soeur. […]

Ok. Let’s look at a couple of things. First you said you had The verb Verb!
a sister… “avoir” –
J’ai une soeur. to have avoir [to have]
J’ai.............................I have
“J’ai” that’s the first person, present tense of the verbe tu as..........................you have
“avoir”. “I have a brother” would be… il a.............................he has
J’ai un frère. elle a..........................she has
on a...........................one has
nous avons................we have
“I have a boyfriend”… vous avez...................you have
“J’ai un petit ami”. ils ont........................they have
elles ont.....................they have
“He has a girlfriend”…
“Il a une petite amie.”

“… une petite amie” – let’s here the difference again

between those two:
“… un petit ami”. “… une petite amie”

Now, your sister, again, her name is… s’appeler

Elle s’appelle Aurélia. Remember!
“Elle s’appelle…”. Now, in our first lesson we met the “his name is” / “her name is”…
expression “Je m’appelle…”. This time, we have “Elle il s’appelle.................his name is
s’appelle…” – “Her name is…”. Of course, “his name is…” … elle s’appelle..............her name is
“Il s’appelle…”

Ok. Let’s remember all three of these: “Je m’appelle…”,

 © Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

 Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Level: beginner.
• the verbs “avoir”, “passer” and “lire”
• saying how you get on with people
• speaking about things in general
• talking about playing instruments
• adjectives ending in “–if”
Dialogue

“Il s’appelle…” and “Elle s’appelle…”

Then you said how old Aurélia was…

Oui. Elle a dix-huit ans.

“Elle a…”. That’s the verb “avoir”, which we must use when avoir – when
talking about age, right? Your uncle – how old is he? saying how old Watch it!
Mon oncle? Il a cinquante ans. someone is We said “avoir” is the verb
“to have”…
And your aunt… J’ai un frère...............I have a brother.
Ma tante? Elle a quarante-neuf ans. Elle a un chien..........She has a dog.
But this verb is also used when
Ok, then. We must remember this: it’s the verb “avoir” talking of someone’s age:
when we’re talking about someone’s age. Elle a quarante ans...She is 40.
Paul a quinze ans.....Paul is 15.
Moving on… Aurélia, où habite-elle? north, south,
Elle habite dans le sud de la France. east, west
“Dans le sud de la France…”, “In the south…”. Now, “in the
north” is?…
Dans le nord…

And the west?…

Dans l’ouest…

And the east?…

Dans l’est.

Let’s hear those one more time… “In the south”?…

Dans le sud…

“In the north”…

Dans le nord…

“In the west”…

Dans l’ouest…

“And, in the east”…

Dans l’est…

Now, on the subject of Aurélia’s exams… cette année, elle passer – “to sit” “passer”
passe son baccalauréat, n’est-ce pas?… (an exam)
C’est exact. Elle passe ses examens en juin.
In relation to exams, this verb
means “to sit”:
The verb “passer” – now that could be confusing. It has Elle passe ses examens en juin.
several meanings but, in relation to exams, it means “to [She sits (or “is sitting”) her exams
sit”, right? Not “to pass”! How would you say “My cousin is in June.]
sitting his law exams?”…
Mon cousin passe ses examens de droit.

And… Carole is sitting her Junior High School exams?

Well, in France, we refer to those as “Le Brevet”, so we
would say…
Elle passe son Brevet.

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 

 Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Level: beginner.
• the verbs “avoir”, “passer” and “lire”
• saying how you get on with people
• speaking about things in general
• talking about playing instruments
• adjectives ending in “–if”

“s’entendre
Dialogue

Now, you said you get on well with your sister…

Oui, je m’entends bien avec elle. avec” – to get verb:
on well with “s’entendre avec”…
Let’s hear that one more time…
This verb means “to get on with
Je m’entends bien avec elle. [someone]”
Je m’entends bien avec Philippe.
You could use this expression in relation to your father,
Here are the other parts of the
too, right? You would say… verb:
Je m’entends bien avec lui.
Je m’entends
tu t’entends
“… avec lui” – “… with him”. Once again?… il s’entend
Je m’entends bien avec lui. elle s’entend
on s’entend
nous nous entendons
Now in the case of your sisters, or your brothers, or your vous vous entendez
parents, if it were the case that you get on well with them ils s’entendent
all, you would say: elles s’entendent
Je m’entends bien avec eux. This is called a “reflexive” verb.
We’ll be studying these more
And one more time?… closely later.
Je m’entends bien avec eux.

“… avec eux” – “… with them.” So, to summarise, we have

“… avec elle”, “… avec lui” and “… avec eux”. “… with her”,
“… with him”, “… with them”.

Now, you spoke about the things your sister likes… speaking things in
Oui. Elle aime la musique et la lecture. about things in general
general
“Elle aime…” – that’s the verb “aimer” – “to like”. Now we
You need to include a definite
must remember to use the article “le”, “la” or “les” when article (le, la, les) when talking
we’re talking about things in general. Things we like about things in general.
doing, activities that interest us. We would also have J’aime le sport...........I like sport.
“J’aime le théâtre…”, and so on. Let’s try a few more. How Elle aime la danse.....She likes
would we say “She adores chocolate!”?… dancing.
Elle adore le chocolat!

“… le chocolat” – the article is there again. How about “My

brother loves football”?… verb: “aimer”
Mon frère adore le foot.
This verb means “to like”
“Pascale loves reading”?… J’aime........................I like
Pascale adore la lecture. tu aimes....................you like
il aime.......................he likes
elle aime...................she likes
Once again, “… la lecture”, with the article “la” on aime.....................one likes
accompanying the noun “lecture”. nous aimons.............we like
vous aimez................you like
ils aiment..................they like
elles aiment..............they like
Note!
There is a large group of verbs in
French which end in “–er”. You’ve
already met a few: habiter, passer,
aimer. They all have the “bold”
endings (above) in common.

 © Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

 Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Level: beginner.
• the verbs “avoir”, “passer” and “lire”
• saying how you get on with people
• speaking about things in general
• talking about playing instruments
• adjectives ending in “–if”
Dialogue

Excellent. Now you are going to tell us a little more about

Aurélia… Allez-y!
Elle lit beaucoup et elle joue du saxophone et de la
guitare. Elle est aussi sportive: elle fait de l’escalade.

Let’s hear all that a second time…

Elle lit […]

And a final time…

Elle lit […]

Ta soeur, Aurélia, elle lit beaucoup, n’est-ce pas? the verb “lire” ‘lire’
Oui, elle lit beaucoup.
This is the verb “to read”
Et toi?… Je lis..........................I read
Moi aussi, je lis beaucoup. tu lis..........................you read
il lit............................he reads
“Je lis…” – that’s the verb “lire” – “to read”. In the singular, elle lit........................she reads
on lit..........................one reads
we have a simple sound: “Je lis…”, “tu lis…”, “il lit…”. In nous lisons.................we read
the plural, it’s different. If we were talking about several vous lisez...................you read
people, we’d say… ils lisent.....................they read
“Ils lisent…” elles lisent.................they read

Now, Aurélia is musical, right? “jouer de” +

Oui. Elle joue du saxophone et de la guitare. instrument
Du saxophone? De la guitare? Now, what about these
words in front of those instruments? Well, you know that
nouns are either masculine or feminine in French. When
we’re talking about playing instruments, if the instrument
we’re talking about is masculine, we say “du”. If it’s
feminine, we say “de la”. Amélie, how should we say “Paul
plays the piano”?…
Paul joue du piano.

“… du piano” because “piano” is masculine. “Pascale plays

the flute”?
Pascale joue de la flûte.

“… de la flûte” because “flûte” is feminine. “Jeanne plays

the clarinet”?
Jeanne joue de la clarinette.

“… de la clarinette” because “clarinette” is, again,

feminine. Now we should mention instruments which
begin with a vowel or a mute “h”. How about “Eric plays
the harmonica”?…
Eric joue de l’harmonica.

“… de l’harmonica”. Ok, once again, we see that this “h” is

effectively redundant. It is not pronounced.

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved. 

 Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Level: beginner.
• the verbs “avoir”, “passer” and “lire”
• saying how you get on with people
• speaking about things in general
• talking about playing instruments
• adjectives ending in “–if”

adjectives
Dialogue

Not only is your sister musical, but she’s also a sports

enthusiast. ending in “–if” adjectives
Oui. Elle est sportive. Elle fait de l’escalade.
Adjectives which end in “–if” in
the masculine form normally
“sportif” – “keen on sport”. We find a number of adjectives change to “–ive” in the
which end in “–if” in French. In the feminine, they change feminine:
to “–ive”, right? So, we get “sportif”, and… masculin..................féminin
“sportive” actif...........................active
sportif........................sportive
nocif..........................nocive
Then there’s “actif”, and…
“active”

“Nocif”, which means “harmful” or “noxious”, would

become…
“nocive”

… “nocive”, that is, if we were talking about a feminine

item – a chemical, or something – which was unhealthy or
whatever.

Now, you said Aurélia lives with your parents… chez chez
Oui, elle vit chez mes parents.
“chez” means “someone’s ‘place’”
“… chez”. That’s a very important word. It means “(to) Je vais chez Paul.
someone’s place” or, to a particular place, without Elle va chez le docteur.
mentioning the exact location. How would we say “My
mother is going to the doctor”?…
Ma mère va chez le docteur.
verb!
“… chez le docteur” – “to the doctor’s (place)”, if you like.
“aller” [to go]
“Are you coming to my place?”… Je vais........................I go
Est-ce que tu viens chez moi? tu vas.........................you go
il va............................he goes
elle va........................she goes
And one more time?… on va.........................one goes
Est-ce que tu viens chez moi?… nous allons................we go
vous allez...................you (pl.) go
ils vont.......................they go
“… chez moi” – “… to my place”. “I’m going to Paul’s elles vont...................they go
place”…
Je vais chez Paul.

“… chez Paul”.

Ok, we’ve covered a lot today. Don’t forget that you

can find all of this information in the accompanying
PDF Guide, available from our website at
learnfrenchbypodcast.com. In our next lesson, Amélie,
we’re going to talk about…
… le monde du travail

That is, “the world of work”. Until next time…

A la prochaine!

 © Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

 Lesson 02: Wednesday, June 14th, 2006
Level: beginner.
• the verbs “avoir”, “passer” and “lire”
• saying how you get on with people
• speaking about things in general
• talking about playing instruments
• adjectives ending in “–if”
Dialogue

If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for the following… Vocab extra!
• année (f)................year
Now it’s your turn…

• beaucoup...............a lot, many

1. They have a sister. [Suppose that you are talking about Philippe and Marc.] • bien sûr!.................certainly!
• C’est........................that’s
2. Karl has a girlfriend.
• ce, cette..................this
3. Diane has a boyfriend. • droit (m).................law
• escalade (f)............(rock) climbing
4. We live in the north of France. • examen (m)...........exam
• faire........................to do
5. He sits his exams in June.
• frère (m).................brother
6. He gets on well with them. • jouer.......................to play
• lecture (f)...............reading
7. We like chocolat. • littéraire.................literary
• moi.........................me
8. They like sport. [Suppose that you’re talking about your brothers.]
• mon, ma, mes........my
9. I play the piano. • monde (m).............world
• où...........................where
10. He reads. • soeur (f).................sister
• travail (m)..............work
11. I’m going to Marie’s (place).
• venir.......................to come

click!

See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

© Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.