BEGINNER1. LESSON #5. AU CAFÉ


Au café.
- Comment vous appelez-vous ?
- Je m’appelle Marie. Vous vous appelez Jean, n’est-ce pas ?
- Oui. Aimez-vous le café ?
- Oui, j’aime le café.
- Deux cafés, s’il vous plait !
SLOW DIALOGUE

TRANSLATION
At the coffee house.
- What’s your name ?
- My name is Marie. Your name is Jean, isn’t it ?
- Yes. Do you like coffee ?
- Yes, I do like coffee.
- Two coffees, please !
N’est-ce pas is not very popular in French. Nothing compared to isn’t it, aren’t you, have you… You want to use this instead : Vous vous appelez Jean, c’est ça ?
Café (masc.) : coffee, coffee place (sometimes bar).
Comment : How.
Aimer : like, love.
Un, deux : One, two.
S’il vous plait : Please.
A lot of things is this lesson. Let’s start with Comment vous appelez-vous ? We’ll talk about the way to ask a question later. Let’s talk about the vous. First, it will be use to address to a group of people.

Vous, maman et papa, vous êtes extraordinaires.
You, mom and dad are amazing.


But it will be use also in an uncasual way, to address someone you don’t know (the first guy in the street), someone you have to show some respect to (your boss), someone you know but with whom you have to keep a certain distance (a collegue from another department, a neighbour you call Mister). This vous will be called vous de politesse or vouvoiement.

Marie and Jean are about the same age, they clearly want to know each other but it would be rude not to use the vous, at least at first.

J’aime (I like). You certainly noticed that the je (I) has been transformed. The reason is : Je ends with a vowel, aime starts with a vowel. Je aime is impossible. It sounds like something a child would say. Thus, we use j’.

Let’s have a first sight on how to conjugate a simple verb like aimer. One thing to notice : the ‘s’ at the end of tu aimes.

J'aime

I like

Tu aimes

You like

Il aime, elle aime

He likes, she likes

Translate in English :
1. Comment vous appelez-vous ?
2. Je m’appelle Arthur.
3. Aimez-vous le café.

Translate in French :
1. Do you like tea ? (to your boss)
2. I like tea and coffee.
3. Three coffees, please !

What do you understand ?


Trois : three.
Thé (masc.) : tea.


What about you ? Do you tea ? Do you like coffee ?
Et vous ? Vous aimez le thé ? Vous aimez le café ?
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