Chatting about the Weather

Another great topic for small talk is, of course, le temps (luh tahN) (the weather). As a matter of fact, one way to designate small talk in French is with the phrase parler de la pluie et du beau temps (pahr-ley duh lah plwee ey dew boh tahN) (Literally: to talk about the rain and the nice weather). In countries of great weather contrasts, like Canada, weather is a constant topic of conversation. Under more temperate climates, like that of France, the weather is still a favorite topic, especially if you want to complain about it.

Of course, you cannot talk about the weather without knowing the names of the seasons; le printemps (luh praN-tahN) (spring), l’été (m) (ley-tey) (summer), l’automne (m) (loh-tohn) (fall), and l’hiver (m) (lee-vehr) (winter). Check out Chapter 4 for more details on the seasons. You can also ask about the weather with the question Quel temps fait-il? (kehl tahN feh-teel) (What is the weather like?). To answer this question, you use Il fait. . . . (eel feh . . .) (It’s. . . .) and plug in any of the following phrases:

chaud (shoh) (warm, hot)

froid (frwah) (cold)

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frais (freh) (cool)

doux (dooh) (mild)

beau (boh) (nice)

mauvais (moh-veh) (bad)

du vent (dew vahN) (windy)

du soleil (dew soh-lehy) (sunny)

To indicate that it’s raining or snowing, you say Il pleut (eel pluh) (It’s raining) or Il neige (eel nehzh) (It’s snowing).

You can also say what the temperature is: La température est de 20 degrés (lah tahN-pey-rah-tewr eh duh vaN duh-grey) (It is 20 degrees [Celsius]); just substitute the current temperature for the 20.

Throughout the world, the temperature is not stated in Fahrenheit but in Celsius (centigrades). So when you hear La température est de 25 degrés (lah tahN-pey-rah-tewr eh duh vaN saNk duh-grey) (The temperature is 25 degrees), it means 25 degrees Celcius.

Notice that all the weather phrases start with il. While you may be familiar with il as the masculine singular pronoun — il s’appelle (eel sah-pehl) (his name is) or il habite (eel ah-beet) (he lives), for example — this il doesn’t refer to a male person or a masculine object. Instead, it’s impersonal, like the English it. Using il in this context isn’t difficult: As far as conjugation and verb agreement go, the verb form that follows is third person singular (just as it is for any il and elle).

Talkin’ the Talk

The captain of the plane Patrick and Amanda are on makes an announcement about the weather in Nice, prompting a conversation between the two acquaintances. (Track 6)

Captain: A Nice, il fait beau et chaud et la température est de

30 degrés.

ah nees, eel feh boh ey shoh ey lah tahN-pey-rah-tewr eh duh trahNt duh-grey.

In Nice, the weather is nice and warm, and the temperature is 30 degrees.

Patrick: A Nice, il fait toujours beau!

ah nees, eel feh tooh-zhoohr boh!

In Nice, the weather is always nice!

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Chapter 6: Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk 99

Amanda: Même en hiver? meh-mahN-nee-vehr?

Even in winter?

Patrick: En hiver, il pleut un peu, mais il fait doux. Et à

New York?

ahN-nee-vehr, eel pluh uhN puh, meh-zeel feh dooh. ey ah New York?

In winter, it rains a little, but it is mild. And in New York?

Amanda: En hiver, il fait très froid et il neige, et en été il fait très chaud et humide.

ahN-nee-vehr, eel feh treh frwah ey eel nehzh, ey ahN-ney-tey eel feh treh shoh ey ew-meed.

In winter, it is very cold and it snows, and in summer, it is very hot and humid.

Patrick: Et au printemps et en automne? ey oh praN-tahN ey ahN-noh-tohn?

What about spring and fall?

Amanda: Le temps est agréable.

luh tahN eh-tah-grey-ah-bluh.

The weather is pleasant.

Words to Know

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100 Part II: French in Action

In every language, the weather is the source of many proverbs. Here is one of those French proverbs: Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps (ew-nee-

rohN-dehl nuh feh pah luh praN-tahN) (One swallow does not make the spring). In France, you can expect cold weather soon when the swallows start gathering on the electric wires, ready to take off to warmer climates; when you see them coming back, you know that spring is close, but it hasn’t quite arrived.

Deciding to Keep in Touch

As you get to know your new acquaintances better, you may want to exchange addresses or phone numbers. To trade contact information, you can use these phrases:

Où habitez-vous? (ooh ah-bee-tey-vooh?) (Where do you live?)

Quelle est votre adresse? (kehl eh vohh-trah-drehs?) (What is your address?)

Donnez-moi votre numéro de téléphone. (dohh-ney-mwah vohh-truh new-mey-roh duh tey-ley-fohhn.) (Give me your phone number.)

In this day and age, you are likely to want and give an e-mail address. The French language has a word for it: l’adresse électronique (lah-dreh-sey-lehk-troh-neek), but saying e-mail (ee-mehl) is so much more convenient; it’s even been frenchified as le mél (luh meyl)! Of course, French also has a word for the @ sign: arobas (ah-roh-bah) or, more commonly, à (ah) (at); the dot is point (pwaN), which means, among many other things, the period at the end of a sentence.

Canada has the same telephone system as the United States: a local area code — l’indicatif (m) (laN-dee-kah-teef) — followed by the seven digits of a personal phone number. In France, each time you make a call, even locally, you have to dial the two-digit area code (which begins with a zero, like 01 or 02) followed by eight numbers that are stated in groups of two (04 94 37 08 56, for example). To call a French number from the United States, dial 011, the code for France (33) and then the number directly, skipping the 0 of the area code (011 33 4 94 37 08 56, for example).

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Chapter 6: Getting to Know You: Making Small Talk 101

Fun & Games

In the blanks provided, identify the seasons shown in the illustrations.

B.________________________

C.________________________

D.________________________

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102 Part II: French in Action

Now, identify the weather conditions shown in these images, using the provided word bank.

E.________________________

F.________________________

G.________________________

H.________________________

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Chapter 7

Asking Directions and

Finding Your Way

In This Chapter

Asking for directions

Using prepositions and commands

Getting help when you’re lost

When you set out for a trip, you probably have a pretty good idea of all the things you want to do and the places you want to see. You figure

out beforehand how you’ll manage to get there, what type of transportation you need, and how to arrange for it. After you arrive, however, you’ll probably discover that you don’t quite know where the nearest bus stop or bank is or how to find the restroom or telephone. And if your plans change, all your previous preparation won’t be enough to get you where you want to go. In those situations, you need to know how to ask for directions. Where do you go for the phrases and questions that let you get to where you want to be? Right here.

Asking and Answering

“Where?” Questions

The most common question when you are traveling is probably Where is. . . ? You make where questions the same way in French as you do in English: You follow the question word où (ooh) (where) with the verb être (eh-truh) (to be) or the verb se trouver (suh trooh-vey) (to be located).

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104 Part II: French in Action

Asking questions with “où,” plus the verbs “être” and “se trouver”

The verb être is the verb most often connected with où, as these examples show (check out Chapter 2 for the complete conjugation of the verb être):

Où est le Louvre? (ooh eh luh looh-vruh?) (Where is the Louvre?)

Où est la place Victor Hugo? (ooh eh lah plahs veek-tohr ew-goh?) (Where is the Victor Hugo Square?)

Où sont les toilettes? (ooh sohN ley twah-leht?) (Where is the bathroom?)

But, as mentioned previously, another verb, se trouver, is also very frequently used to ask where questions:

Où se trouve le Louvre? (ooh suh troohv luh looh-vruh?) (Where is the Louvre [located]?)

Où se trouve la place Victor Hugo? (ooh suh troohv lah plahs veek-tohr ew-goh?) (Where is the Victor Hugo Square?)

Où se trouvent les toilettes? (ooh suh troohv ley twah-leht?) (Where is the bathroom?)

As all the preceding examples show, where questions follow this construction:

où + verb + subject

In fact, you use this sentence structure for all other verbs you choose to connect with où:

Où va ce bus? (ooh vah suh bews?) (Where is this bus going?)

Où mène cette rue? (ooh mehn seht rew?) (Where does this road lead?)

Answering questions with “à”

Prepositions are (often) little words, like to, in, and at, that indicate a relationship between one thing and another in a sentence. They’re also a key element in answering where questions: Where are you going? To the zoo. Where is the concert? In the park. Where’s Alice? At the museum.

Fortunately, rather than remember three French prepositions, you only have to remember one, à (ah), which means to, in, or at (consider it a three-fer). How you use à, though, depends on the context of the answer.

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Chapter 7: Asking Directions and Finding Your Way 105

As a rule, you use the preposition à when you want to say that you are going to or staying in a city or town. For example:

Je vais à Lille. (zhuh veh-zah leel.) (I am going to Lille.)

Ils sont à Montréal. (eel sohN-tah mohN-rey-ahl.) (They are in Montreal.)

However, when you want to talk about going to or staying at places in general, such as museums, cathedrals, or churches, you need to add the definite article — le (luh), la (lah), or les (ley), all of which mean the — after à. Note that à contracts with the masculine, singular le and the plural les. The following list shows these combinations and provides a sample sentence using that construction:

à + le = au — Example: Sylvie va au musée. (seel-vee vah oh mew-zey.) (Sylvie is going to the museum.)

à + la = à la — Example: Guy veut aller à la cathédrale. (gee vuh-tah-ley ah lah kah-tey-drahl.) (Guy wants to go to the cathedral.)

à + l’ = à l’— Example: Les Martin vont à l’église St. Paul. (ley mahr-taN vohN-tah ley-gleez saN pohl.) (The Martins go to St. Paul’s church.)

à + les = aux — Example: Allez aux feux! (ah-ley oh fuh!) (Go to the traffic lights!)

Using “voici” and “voilà”

Occasionally, the place you’re looking for (or being asked about) is right in front of you (or close enough to point to). After all, if you’ve never been to a particular location before, you may not know quite what you’re looking for or you may not recognize that you’ve already arrived! Similarly, if you’re giving directions to your companion as you go along, you’ll very likely announce your arrival with Here is the. . . or a similar expression. To create these expressions, you use the words voici (vwah-see) (here) and voilà (vwah-lah) (there):

Voici la poste/le musée/l’université! (vwah-see lah pohst/luh mew-zey/ lew-nee-vehr-see-tey!) (Here is the post office/the museum/the university!)

Voilà les bureaux! (vwah-lah ley bew-roh!) (There are the offices!)

The difference between voici and voilà is that voici refers to something very close to you (here), and voilà refers to something farther away from you (there).

Of course, people are always using expressions that convey the same meaning but with fewer words. To do that with these answers, you simply eliminate the noun (le musée, l’université, and so on) and use a pronoun in its place (le, la, or les) in front of voici or voilà, as shown in the following answers:

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106 Part II: French in Action

Getting specific with prepositions

French has many more prepositions than à. And you need to know these other prepositions when someone is giving you directions or when you want to give more specific directions to others. With the prepositions in the following list, you’ll know, for example, whether the restaurant you are looking for is next to the cathedral, across from the mall, or in front of the square:

à côté de (ah koh-tey duh) (next to)

à gauche de (ah gohsh duh) (to the left of)

à droite de (ah drwaht duh) (to the right of)

en face de (ahN fahs-duh) (across from, in front of)

près (de) (preh [duh]) (near [to], close [to])

loin (de) (lwaN [duh]) (far [from])

devant (duh-vahN) (in front of)

derrière (deh-ryehr) (behind)

entre (ahN-truh) (between)

dans (dahN) (in, inside)

sur (sewr) (on, on top of)

sous (sooh) (under, underneath)

Here are some example sentences using these prepositions:

Le restaurant est entre la poste et l’hôtel de ville. (luh reh-stoh-rahN eh-tahN-truh lah pohst ey loh-tehl duh veel.) (The restaurant is between the post office and town hall.)

Le cinéma est en face de l’hôtel. (luh see-ney-mah eh-tahN fahs duh loh-tehl.) (The movie theater is across from the hotel.)

La boulangerie se trouve à côté du musée. (lah booh-lahN-zhree suh troohv ah koh-tey dew mew-zey.) (The bakery is next to the museum.)

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Chapter 7: Asking Directions and Finding Your Way 107

Talkin’ the Talk

John and Ann are in their hotel lobby inquiring about directions to go to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The desk clerk, le réceptionniste (luh rey-seh-psyoh-neest), helps them.

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