Je suis italienne. Et vous, d’où venez-vous ?

How can you have a very basic conversation in French?

Bonsoir ! Je m’appelle Bruno. Je suis Brésilien. J’ai 32 ans. J’étudie les langues et la littérature. Je viens du Brésil. J’habite à Florianopolis. Je parle anglais et espagnol. Je ne parle pas très bien français.

I have been trying to image some situations in which I could be able to start and, say, maintain a very basic conversation using some French. Since I am still struggling to say some words correctly, I hope you folks don’t expect me to present a high level of proficiency in this language right now, ok?

Here it is. A very short example of how one may have a simple conversation in French:

Imagine two people – two famous women (femmes célèbres) and two famous man (hommes célèbres) – meeting each other for the very first time:

Let’s use Sofia Loren and Hebe Camargo (In memorian).

First, let’s try to remember things about both of them, shall we?

Who is Sofia Loren?

Sophia Loren (born 20 September 1934) is an Italian actress, one of the best known and most popular of Italian actresses. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Now, I believe that most Brazilians have heard of Hebe Camargo, right?

She is no longer among us, but she was really famous in Brazil.

Hebe Maria Monteiro de Camargo Ravagnani (March 8, 1929 – September 29, 2012) was a Brazilian television host, singer and actress. She is considered the "Queen of Brazilian Television". She died at her home on September 29, 2012. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

So let’s start the conversation?

Sofia Loren: Bonjour. Je m’appelle Sofia. Comment vous appelez-vous ?

Hebe Camargo: Je m’appelle Hebe. Enchanté.

Sofia Loren: Je suis italienne. Et vous, d’où venez-vous ?

Hebe Camargo: je suis brésillienne. 

Sofia Loren: enchantée, Hebe.

Hebe Camargo: Également. Au revoir. 

Okay, now that we have an example of how to start a conversation in French, let’s practice.

Take a break. Go somewhere else and then come back. Read the conversation again and try to memorize only the questions. (5 minutes later).

Comment vous appelez-vous ?

Et vous, d’où venez-vous ?

DONE?

Okay, now try to understand what each question means.

Can you answer them using your own information?

Sofia Loren: Bonjour. Je m’appelle Sofia. Comment vous appelez-vous ?

You (Vous): Je m’appelle ________. Enchantée.

Sofia Loren: Je suis italienne. Et vous, d’où venez-vous ?

You (Vous): je suis ______________. 

Sofia Loren: Enchantée, __________.

You (Vous): Également. Au revoir. 

Dead simple, right ?

Okay. Congratulations. You have learned how to start a conversation in French. However, have you realized that our first example used female only? Let’s try the same, but now with Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Bolaños.

Let’s do the same procedure we did with Sofia and Hebe, ok?

What do we know about both Zidane and Bolaños?

Zinedine Yazid Zidane, nicknamed "Zizou", is a French former footballer and current coach of Real Madrid Castilla. He played as an attacking midfielder for the France national team, Juventus and Real Madrid.

Roberto Gómez Bolaños (21 February 1929 – 28 November 2014), more commonly known by his pseudonym Chespirito, was a Mexican screenwriter, actor, comedian, film director, television director, playwright, songwriter, and author. He is widely regarded as one of the most important Spanish-language humorists of the 20th century. He was internationally known for writing, directing, and starring in the Chespirito (1968), El Chavo del Ocho (1971), and El Chapulín Colorado (1972) television series. The character of El Chavo is one of the most iconic in the history of Latin American television, and El Chavo del Ocho continues to be immensely popular, with daily worldwide viewership averaging 91 million viewers per episode.

From Wikipedia

Zidane: Bonjour. Je m’appelle Zidane. Comment vous appelez-vous ?

Roberto Bolaños: Je m’appelle Roberto Bolaños. Enchanté.

Zidane: Je suis français. Et vous, d’où venez-vous ?

Roberto Bolaños: Je suis mexicain. 

Zidane: Enchanté, Roberto.

Roberto Bolaños: Également. Au revoir. 

So have you noticed the differences in use when it comes to enchanté and enchantée? If you haven’t read my previous post, you should ((((read it here)))

While I was studying French last night, I found this short video in which a nice French girl helps us learn some French.

How to introduce yourself in French

EXTRA (FROM WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA):

Sophia Loren, une des actrices les plus importantes du cinéma italien et mondial a tourné dans de nombreux films depuis la fin des années 1950. Elle obtient ses plus grands rôles dans les années 1960 avec notamment le personnage dramatique de La Ciociara, son interprétation est couronnée par les deux plus hautes récompenses du cinéma, le prix d'interprétation féminine au festival de Cannes et l'Oscar de la meilleure actrice. Dans Hier, aujourd'hui et demain, son striptease devant Marcello Mastroianni est une des plus célèbres scènes de l'histoire du cinéma. Une étoile à son nom consacrant sa renommée a été posée sur le Hollywood Walk of Fame à Los Angeles, face au 7050 Hollywood Boulevard.

Hebe Camargo Ravagnani, née le 8 mars 1929 à Taubaté et morte le 29 septembre 2012 à São Paulo, est une personnalité de télévision, actrice et chanteuse brésilienne. Elle a animé à partir de 1986 l'émission Hebe, diffusée sur le réseau SBT jusqu'en 2010 puis sur RedeTV! à partir de 2011.

Surnommée la rainha da televisão brasileira, soit la « reine de la télévision brésilienne », Hebe Camargo est une pionnière de la télévision; elle participe aux débuts de la télévision au Brésil et à la naissance du premier réseau de télévision brésilien, Rede Tupi, animant à partir de 1950 l'émission Rancho Alegre sur TV Tupi São Paulo, l'unique station du réseau à São Paulo. Elle est également l'animatrice, à partir de 1955, de ce qui est considéré comme le premier programme féminin de la télévision brésilienne, O Mundo é das Mulheres.

Souffrant d'un cancer depuis 2010, elle décède d'un arrêt cardiaque le 29 septembre 2012, à l'âge de 83 ans.

Roberto Gómez Bolaños (né le 21 février 1929 à Mexico - 28 novembre 2014 à Cancún), il est plus connu sous son nom de scène Chespirito (qui signifie plus ou moins « le petit Shakespeare », pseudonyme qui lui fut donné par le réalisateur Agustín P. Delgado, en raison de sa petite taille) est un scénariste, acteur, réalisateur et humoriste mexicain.

Zinédine Yazid Zidane Prononciation du titre dans sa version originale Écouter, né le 23 juin 1972 à Marseille, est un footballeur international et entraîneur français. Durant sa carrière de joueur, entre 1988 et 2006, il évolue au poste de milieu offensif. Depuis 2013, il occupe des fonctions d'entraîneur adjoint au sein du Real Madrid.

« Statue dédiée à El Chavo del Ocho, le personnage de télévisivon interprété par Gómez Bolaños, exposée près d'un centre commercial de Cali (Colombie). »

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LE TEMPS DE L'AMOUR

LE TEMPS DE L'AMOUR

C'est le temps de l'amour, 
Le temps des copains et de l'aventure
Quand le temps va et vient, 
On ne pense a rien malgre ses blessures
Car le temps de l'amour
C'est long et c'est court, 
Ca dure toujours, on s'en souvient

On se dit qu' a vingt ans on est le roi du monde, 
Et qu' éternellement il y aura dans nos yeux
Tout le ciel bleu

C'est le temps de l'amour, 
Le temps des copains et de l'aventure
Quand le temps va et vient, 
On ne pense a rien malgre ses blessures
Car le temps de l'amour
Ca vous met au coeur
Beaucoup de chaleur et de bonheur

Un beau jour c'est l'amour et le coeur bat plus vite, 
Car la vie suit son cours
Et l'on est tout heureux d'etre amoureux

C'est le temps de l'amour, 
Le temps des copains et de l'aventure
Quand le temps va et vient, 
On ne pense a rien malgre ses blessures
Car le temps de l'amour
C'est long et c'est court, 
Ca dure toujours, on s'en souvient.

English:
TIME TO LOVE

It's time to love,
Time for friends and adventure.
When the time comes and goes,
Can not think of anything despite his injuries.
For the love of time
It is a long and short
It lasts forever, it will be remembered.

It is said that twenty years it is the king of the world
And there will be eternally in our eyes
All the blue sky.

It's time to love,
Time for friends and adventure.
When the time comes and goes,
Can not think of anything despite his injuries.
For the love of time
It puts you in the heart
Much warmth and happiness.

One day it's love and the heart beats faster,
Because life goes on
And we are quite happy to be in love.

It's time to love,
Time for friends and adventure.
When the time comes and goes,
Can not think of anything despite his injuries.
For the love of time
It is a long and short
It lasts forever, it will be remembered.

1962
Wes Anderson, "Moonrise Kingdom", trailer 2012

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Did you spot a typo?

Do you have any tips or examples to improve this page?

Do you disagree with something on this page?

Use one of your social-media accounts to share this page:

Elle s’appelle Jennifer Aniston. Elle est américaine !

Bonsoir ! Je m’appelle Bruno. Je suis Brésilien. J’ai 32 ans. J’étudie les langues et la littérature. Je viens du Brésil. J’habite à Florianopolis. Je parle anglais et espagnol.

As I promised you guys in my last post about my language learning process, I am writing a little bit more about this incredible experience. After some time as a French language learner, I have come to the conclusion that the French language sounds a bit more formal than the English one and its phonetics (or should I say Phonétique) makes the English language phonetics look like an easy one.

Today, I would like to share a thing or two about the classes.

First of all, I would like to introduce you some exercises we had to do in order to practice the language. Let’s introduce ourselves, shall we?

In English, we usually start a conversation by saying “Hello, my name is Bruno.” Let’s see how we could say something quite similar in French.

Bonjour, je m’appelle (your name here).

See? It is not that difficult at all!

There are many options one can use in order to introduce himself/herself in French. Let’s see only two here, okay?

This first one is a FORMAL one.

Vous vous appelez comment ?

The next one may be seen as an INFORMAL question.

Tu t’appelles comment ?

As you may have noticed, I have just written two questions. There are a lot of other ways of asking the very same question – in both formal and informal ways. But since this is not my point here, I will let them for another post, right?

Let’s talk a little bit about our nationalité in French.

As you may have realized, I started this post by saying that Je suis Brésilien. I am sure you folks are able to understand it. Therefore, that’s the way we use to state that we are from a certain country. In my case, “I am from Brazil”. So, “I am Brazilian.”

In French, it is rather simple. We just use Je suis and the nationality. Let’s learn some of them.

MASCULIN :

français

portugais

suédois

maxicain

canadien

espagnol

allemande

FÉMININ :

française

portugaise

suédoise

maxicaine

canadienne

espagnole

allemande

Have you noticed something different from the English language? I will give twenty seconds to have another look.

Ah, that’s right! You got it!

Yes, in French, the nationalities – differently from English – do not have a capital letter!

Therefore, the English word for França is French (with a capital F), but it is not the case of français, in French and so on and so forth.

There is another thing. Have you realized that in the end of the list about, say, female nationalities there is always an extra letter? Yes, the letter ‘e’. this ‘e’ states that the person is not a man, but a woman. In other words, the ‘e’ at the end means feminine.

So, we say that

Clara, c’est italien.

Ivan, c’est russe.

Yoko, c’est japonais.

Bernardo, c’est espagnol.

Olof, c’est suédois.   

Okay, but what about russe? You haven’t talked about this nationality! Well, russe is used for both – male and female. So,

Ivan, c’est russe and Sofia, c’est russe take the word russe.

In order to use the correct form of the verb Être, we have to take a look at the verb. So, let’s se présenter, présenter quelqu’un.

This is a very simple activity and don’t worry, I will give you all the answers!  

  

Completétez avec s’appelle, est, êtes, m’appelle, suis ou t’appelles.

S’appeler (Indicatif présent)

Je ……….. Paul.

Tu ………… comment ?

Il ………… Karl Rainer.

Elle ………… Isabelle.

Nous …………………… Pablo et Alexandra.

Vous ........................... Sofia.

Ils ……………. Alexandre et Barbara.  

ANSWERS:

Je m’appelle Paul.

Tu t’appelle comment?

Il s’appelle Karl Rainer.

Elle s’appelle Isabelle.

Nous nous appelons Pablo et Alexandra.

Vous vous appelez Sofia.

Ils s’appellent Alexandre et Barbara.  

Être (indicatif présent)

Je .......... canadien.

Tu ……….. belge.

Il …….. allemande ?

Elle ……………. français.

Nous …………….. espagnols.

Vous …………… russe ?

Ils …………….. canadiens.

Ells ……………….. espagnoles.

ANSWERS:

Je suis canadien.

Tu es belge.

Il est allemande ?

Elle est français.

Nous sommes espagnols.

Vous êtes russe ?

Ils sont canadiens.

Ells sont espagnoles.

Is it too much?

Well, let’s try to look at the pictures below and say where those people are from, shall we?

Elle s’appelle Jennifer Aniston. Elle est américaine !

Brigitte Bardot est française.

Penélope Cruz est espagnole.

Maria Sharapova est russe.

Gisele Bündchen est Brésilienne.

 I hope you liked it.

Salut ! 

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Did you spot a typo?

Do you have any tips or examples to improve this page?

Do you disagree with something on this page?

Use one of your social-media accounts to share this page: