Quel jour sommesnous?

Transcription

1 > Quel jour sommesnous? What day is it? quel - les différents usages assez peu de, un peu de comme Le facteur sonne à la porte. J'ouvre la porte et je demande: The postman rings at the door. I open the door and I ask: - Bonjour, qu'est-ce que c'est? C'est pour quoi? Qu'est-ce qu'il y a? Hello, what is it? What is it for? What's up? - Bonjour, bonjour, j'ai une lettre recommandée pour vous. Et aussi un colis. Vous avez de la chance aujourd'hui. - Hello, hello, I have a recorded delivery letter for you. And also a parcel. You're in luck today. - Un moment s'il vous plaît, j'arrive. Oh, d'accord, je vois, c'est un très

2 gros paquet. - One moment please, I am coming. Oh, OK, I see, it's a very large packet. - Oui, un gros paquet, et puis c'est assez lourd. Voilà, je peux vous demander une petite signature? Yes, a large packet, and it's fairly heavy. Here, can I ask you for a little signature? - Oui, où ça? Yes, whereabouts? - Là, sur la feuille de livraison. C'est petit comme feuille de livraison. Estce qu'il y a assez de place pour signer? There, on the delivery sheet. It's a small delivery sheet. Is there enough room to sign? - Oui, ça va. Quelle histoire! Vous êtes sûr que c'est pour moi? Ça vient d'où ce colis? De Paris? C'est mes parents peut-être. Je suis surprise. C'est pas leur habitude. Mais au fait, quel jour sommes-nous? Yes, that's OK. What a saga! Are you sure that it's for me? Where does it come from, this parcel? From Paris? From my parents, maybe. I am surprised. They're not in the habit... But hold on, what day is it today? (lit: what day are we?) - Nous sommes le huit. It's the 8th. (lit: We are the eight.) -Le huit, le huit juin, alors c'est pour mon anniversaire, je comprends tout maintenant. The 8th, the 8th of June, so it's for my birthday, I understand everything now. le vocabulaire féminin la porte d'entrée the entrance door la lettre recommandée the recorded delivery letter la feuille the paper, the slip la signature personnelle the personal signature la livraison the delivery la place the place (also: the square) une histoire a story, a saga une habitude a habit

3 le vocabulaire masculin le facteur the postman le colis the parcel le paquet the packet les parents parents (also: relatives) un anniversaire a birthday...en quatre points The lesson in four points 1) Quel a) Quel...? Quel followed by a question mark is the equivalent of the English 'What...?' or 'Which...?' It's an adjective that hooks up with a noun to form a question. Because it's an adjective, it must agree in number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) with the noun it's linked to. So we have in the masculine singular: In the feminine singular: Quel jour sommes-nous aujourd'hui? What day is it today? (lit: What day are we?) Quelle heure est-il? What time is it? (lit: What hour is it?) (Notice that even though the word for hour is feminine - une heure - the question is Quelle heure est-il? The il here is the impersonal form, that we saw earlier.) In the masculine plural:

4 Tu préfères quels livres: les romans, les policiers, les livres d'histoire? What books do you prefer: novels, detective stories, history books? And in the feminine plural: b) Quel...! Quelles sont vos couleurs favorites? What are your favourite colours? Quel followed by an exclamation mark means 'What a...!' For example: Quelle histoire! What a story! Quelle bonne surprise! What a good surprise! Quel problème! What a problem! Quel merveilleux repas! What a marvellous meal! Quel beau dimanche! What a beautiful Sunday! Quelles drôles d'idées! What strange ideas! Quel, quelle, quelles and quels are all pronounced the same. c)...quel......quel...,...quelle...,...quels... and...quelles... are conjunctions used to link two clauses of a sentence: '...what...' or '...which...' in English. Je ne sais pas quelle heure il est. I don't know what time it is. Le secrétaire demande quels documents il faut apporter à la réunion. The secretary asks which documents it's necessary to take to the meeting. 2) Assez Assez is an adverb used to describe quantity. As an adverb it only has one form: there aren't different versions for masculine and feminine, singular and plural. Assez has two meanings. Firstly quite:

5 C'est assez lourd. It's quite heavy. Il fait assez beau. The weather is quite nice. J'aime assez la cuisine épicée. I quite like spicy cooking. And secondly, enough: Je ne dors pas assez. I don't sleep enough. Tu travailles assez pour vivre correctement. You work enough to live properly. If you want to say, 'enough of something', you must add in the word de before the something you want to describe. For example, Est-ce que tu as assez d'essence pour aller à Lyon? Do you have enough (of) petrol to go to Lyon? Vous avez assez de temps pour régler les questions importantes avant la fin de la journée. You have enough time to sort out the important questions before the end of the day. 3) Peu de..., un peu de... Peu de behaves like assez de. It's an adverb meaning ' few' or 'little'. It's often used in French where in English it would be more natural to use the negative expressions 'not many, 'not much'. Je connais peu de gens ici. I know few people here. (I don't know many people here.) J'ai peu de relations dans l'entreprise. Mes amis travaillent ailleurs, dans un autre secteur. C'est un nouveau poste pour moi. I have few contacts in the company. (I don't have many contacts in the company). My friends work elsewhere, in another sector. It's a new job for me. Il y a très peu de soleil sur la plage, il fait frais. There is very little sun on the beach, it's chilly. Il y a assez peu de touristes à Paris cet été, c'est inhabituel pour la saison. There are rather few tourists in Paris this summer, it is unusual for the season.

6 Un peu de means 'a little...' 4) Comme Quand j'ai un peu de temps libre, je range mes papiers. When I have a little free time, I organise my papers. Comme is used to express a comparison. It can go with nouns, the equivalent of 'like' in English: Les filles sont bien comme leurs mères. Daughters really are like their mothers. Faites comme moi: patientez! Do like me: be patient! Mon nouveau collègue n'est pas un homme comme les autres, il est exceptionnel. My new colleague isn't a man like the others, he's exceptional. And it can also go with verbs, the equivalent of 'as' in English: Il faut rédiger la lettre en français ou en anglais? Is it necessary to compose the letter in French or in English? Comme vous voulez, ça n'a pas d'importance. As you wish, it is not important. There's also a special use of comme. Instead of saying: you can say: C'est une petite feuille de livraison. It's a small delivery sheet. C'est petit comme feuille de livraison. It's small as a delivery sheet. Listen out for this construction in spoken French. It is used very often: C'est beau comme pays, le Canada. It's beautiful as a country, Canada. C'est un beau pays. It's a beautiful country.

7 C'est intéressant comme journal, Libération? Oui, il faut reconnaitre que c'est pas mal. Is it interesting as a newspaper, Libération? Yes, you have to acknowledge that it's not bad. Note that the noun is used without an article in this construction, unlike in the English translation: comme journal as a newspaper