INTERMEDIATE. LESSON #47. LES ANGOISSES DE DERNIÈRE MINUTE

- Les vins ! On n’a pas choisi les vins !
- Le traiteur nous a dit qu’il se chargeait de tout. On le laisse s’en occuper, tu te rappelles ?
- Je n’ai pas réessayé ma robe depuis deux semaines. Et si je ne rentrais plus dedans ?
- Tu as peur d’avoir pris trois kilos en deux semaines ?
- J’étais un peu nerveuse, j’ai mangé beaucoup trop de chocolat.
- Tu es très bien et tu rentreras sans problème dans ta robe.
- Et ton costume ?
- Je te remercie. Je ne crois pas avoir pris de poids récemment.
- Non, je veux dire : ton costume, il est où ?
- Dans la penderie. Il n’en a pas bougé depuis un mois. Maintenant, rendors-toi !
TRANSLATION
- Wine ! We didn’t choose the wine !
- The caterer told us he was taking care of everything. We let him take care of it, don’t you remember ?
- I haven’t tried on my dress for two weeks. What if I can’t get into it ?
- Are you afraid you may have put on three kilos during these two weeks ?
- I was a little bit nervous, I really ate too much chocolate.
- You look really good and you will have no problem to get into your dress.
- And what about your suit ?
- Thank you. I don’t think I’ve put on weight recently.
- No. I mean : where's your suit ?
- In the closet. It hasn’t moved from there for a month. Now, go back to sleep !
Traiteur (masc.) : caterer.
Se charger : to take care, to take the responsability.
S’occuper (prendre en charge) : to take care.
Essayer (un vêtement) : to try on.
Nerveux, nerveuse : nervous.
Prendre du poids : to put on weight.
Poids (masc.) : weight.
Récemment : recently.
Penderie (fém.) : closet, wardrobe.
Se rendormir : to go back to sleep.
Let’s work today on pronunciation and slang words. Here is this same dialogue but with a few transformations. You could hear this in France — because French people really speak like that.

- Moi j’vais m’baigner, là.
- Ok. Attends-moi. Vache ! Ça caille ! Tu veux pas faire un château de sable, d’abord. On s’baign’ra après.
- D’ac. Il est où l’seau ? Y faut du sable bien mouillé.
- Moi, j’veux faire aussi.
- Et ben t’as qu’à t’trouver un seau.
- M’man, y’a un autre seau ?
- Mais oui, y’a deux pelles aussi.
- Bien joué. Pas de dispute, c’est les vacances.


What do you notice ?
Once again, as with Marie’s students, you see that some letters aren’t pronounced :
j’vais m’baigner instead of je vais me baigner, là.
T’as qu’à t’trouver un seau instead of tu n’as qu’à te trouver un seau.

We also have some transformations :
- Ouh là becomes Vache. We could also say La vache ! (= wow, hell).
- C’est froid becomes Ça caille.
- D’accord becomes D’ac.
- Et bien becomes Et ben.
These are very familiar expressions, almost slang for some of them. But they are really useful…
France is one of the world’s largest producer of wines. Different sorts of wine are produced : red, rosé, white (dry, semi-sweet and sweet), sparkling. And lots of French regions produced some wines : Alsace - Bordeaux - Burgundy - Champagne - Languedoc - Loire - Provence - Rhone - South West of France.
Some French wines are very famous : the burgundy, the bordeaux or the champagne, named after the regions where they’re produced.

French wine on Wikipedia

You can’t choose any wine to accompany food. You have to select the one that will marry the better with the meal you decided to serve. For example, a white wine will be served with fish, a red one with meat or cheese.

Wine and food matching on Wikipedia
Translate in English :
1. Mais non, ne t’inquiète pas, tu es très bien.
2. Je ne sais pas si je rentrerai dans ma robe demain.
3. A-t-elle grossi ? — Oui, elle a pris cinq kilos.
4. Le traiteur s’occupe de tout, faisons lui confiance.

Translate in French :
1. We forgot to choose the wines.
2. I haven’t sleep for days.
3. I’m so nervous I ate too much cookies.
4. Did you try on your suit ?

Faire confiance : to trust.

Answers
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