Beginning Vocabulary
Bonjour everyone!
For this task, I will be giving you some conversational vocabulary, and this will effectively be your first lesson.
| Bonjour | Hello (lit. Good Day) |
Note that I don't pronounce the n. In French, vowel + n + consonant means that you pronounce the vowel nasally, and then the next consonant. You should be able to hear it in my audio. |
| Comment ça va? | How are you? (lit. How is it going?) |
Similar to my last note, note how I don't pronounce it like the English 'Comment.' The 'o' makes more of an 'o' sound, and the 'ent' kind-of sounds like a nasally 'ah' |
| Bien | Well |
You don't technically need to know this, but this word is one syllable. When you have an 'i' and another pronounced vowel after it, the 'i' makes a 'y' sound. So, it's kind of pronounced like bja (with a nasal a)
|
| Mal | Poorly | Audio |
| Comme-ci, comme-ça | So-so (lit. Like this, like that) | Audio |
| Enchanté(e) |
Nice to meet you! (lit. enchanted)
Note: You use the (e) in parentheses if you are a girl |
Same note as 'Bonjour' -- I do not pronounce the 'n's. |
| nom |
Name
Note: If you are asking for first and last names separately, prénom refers to first name, nom refers to last |
This is actually pronounced the same was the word for no in French, 'non', if you have ever heard it before. |
| Je m'appelle ___(nom)___ | My name is ___(name)____ |
Of course, replace 'bla bla bla' with your name. |
| Comment t'appelles-tu? | What is your name? |
Another little note that you don't really need to know: the 'u' in 'tu' does not make an 'oo' sound, it is very tight. Eventually you will be able to recognize it easily, but don't fret over it for now. |
For this task, all that I ask you to do is study the vocabulary and think of potential minimalist conversations that you could have. Listen to the audio, memorize the spelling, and speak. I don't care if you are talking to your dog, I promise just saying the words out loud will improve your oral fluency ten-fold.
Then, if possible, please record an audio conversation between you and another classmate (or friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever), and post it in the comments. I can give you feedback and help you along, if you do!