LEARN

FRENCH
BY PODCAST
AUDIO PODCASTS
FOR LEARNERS
OF FRENCH Lesson
11
AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE

Talking about
the weather

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 Lesson 11
Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid]
il fait 24 degrs
a nous change de
Men parle pas!
on a eu
Dialogue

Hello again from Learn French by Podcast. My name is

Hugh Nagle and joining me in the studio today is Amlie
Note!
Verdier bonjour Amlie!
il risque dy avoir
Bonjour!
This expression means Theres a risk
of (there being)
and Julien Gruet bonjour Julien! In this context, it means Theres a
Bonjour! risk of thunder

Todays short podcast will give us some vocabulary

to discuss the weather. Lets listen first to a short Remember!
conversation
Bonjour! avoir peur de [= to be afraid]
Bonjour! jai | peur de lorage
Il fait beau aujourdhui! nous avons |
Oui, il ny a pas un seul nuage lhorizon! Note the use of the verb avoir in
En plus il fait chaud! Je pense quil fait au moins 24 French. The expression really means to
degrs. Cest agrable! have fear of (something).
Oui, mais sil fait trop chaud, il risque dy avoir de
lorage dans la soire!
Jai peur de lorage! Surtout lorsque quil y a Remember!
beaucoup dclairs et du tonnerre!
En tout cas, a nous change dil y a une semaine! Il il y a
faisait un temps de chien! This expression can mean There is /
Men parle pas! Je pense quon a tout eu! Grle, are or, in this case, ago:
Il y a une semaine = a week ago
pluie, vent! Je dteste quand je dois sortir et quil
pleut des cordes!

Now, lets hear all that once again

Bonjour! Note!
Bonjour! []
pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse
And one final time
Bonjour!
Bonjour! []

When you described todays weather, Julien, you said faire [in
Il fait beau. relation to
the weather]
Il fait, thats the verb faire. Wed use this verb, too, if we
said the weather was bad. In this case wed say
Il fait mauvais.

The verb faire appeared again when you mentioned Il pleut comme vache qui pisse! means Its raining
like well, you can guess, cant you? Similar in meaning
todays temperature. You said but less colourful is the expression: Il pleut des
Il fait au moins 24 degrs. cordes.

And, yet again, we heard the verb faire when you worried pleuvoir [= to rain]
Where you see
il pleut.....................its raining
this symbol that it might get too hot. That expression was il a plu......................it rained
Sil fait trop chaud il pleuvra.................it will rain
its your turn
to repeat what
Now, to simplify things for a moment, and practice using Note that pleuvoir is an impersonal verb: its used only
youve heard.
in the 3rd person singular, that, is with the pronoun il.
Then well this verb, the expression Its hot! is
repeat once Il fait chaud.
more.
Il fait chaud.

2 Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

 Lesson 11
Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid]
il fait 24 degrs
a nous change de
Men parle pas!
on a eu
Dialogue

Its very hot is

Il fait trs chaud.
Remember!
Il fait trs chaud.
trs...........................very
And, its too hot is trop..........................too
Il fait trop chaud.
Il fait trop chaud.
Remember!
In the middle of winter, we might talk of the cold
Il fait froid. In relation to We say Thats the verb
Il fait froid. the weather Il fait beau. faire
objects Cest chaud. tre
Its very cold oneself* Jai chaud. avoir
Il fait trs froid.
*In this conversation, we didnt hear Jai chaud/froid. Remember,
Il fait trs froid.
however, that avoir is used when we wish to say that we,
ourselves, are hot/cold. Well meet this expression in future lessons.
And, its too cold
Il fait trop froid.
Il fait trop froid.

Now, we must point out that the use of the verb faire in Remember!
these cases relates to the weather. On the other hand, if
were talking about an object being hot, for example the
une semaine...........a week
cooker, in that case we use the verb tre. We might warn a
un mois....................a month
child who was about to approach a fire un an*......................a year
Attentionau feu! Cest chaud!
*A year can also be une anne.
Thats Cest chaud the verb tre. If we were to say
As a general rule, une anne is found
Your hands are cold, wed hear in more specific contexts:
Tes mains sont froides.
lanne scolaire (the school year)
We have the feminine plural form of the adjective depuis le dbut de lanne (since
the start of the year)
froides as we are describing someones hands
and la main is feminine. So remember, faire for the
weather, tre for objects.

Amlie, we heard you mention that there was a change a nous

from a week ago. You said change de
a nous change dil y a une semaine.

Lets hear that once again a

a nous change dil y a une semaine.
a is an abbreviation of the word Cela
a nous change dil y a une semaine. (= That).

Literally, It changes us though, in English, we simply Cela can be quite emphatic, as in the
say It has changed . following examples:

Where you see Amlie, Theres been a change since a month Cela ne fait aucun doute.
this symbol ago would be [= Theres no doubt about that.]
a nous change dil y a un mois.
its your turn Cela nous rassure.
to repeat what
a nous change dil y a un mois.
[= That reassures us.]
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.

Plus Publications. All rights reserved. 3

 Lesson 11
Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid]
il fait 24 degrs
a nous change de
Men parle pas!
on a eu
Dialogue

and, from a year ago

a nous change dil y a un an.
imperative
a nous change dil y a un an.
The Imperative

Not only in relation to the weather, but in a wide variety negative This is the form of the verb we use
when we are ordering or directing
of contexts, we would use the expression Dont talk to imperative someone to do something.
me! or Dont mention that!. In French, we have the
expression In this situation (on the left), what we
are really saying is: Dont [you] talk to
Men parle pas! me about that!
Ne men parle pas! comes from the
In fact, this negative imperative is Ne men parle pas! but 2nd person singular of the verb
remember, in quick, spoken French, the initial Ne parler, a regular er verb.
tends not to be heard. Lets hear that once more
In the case of er verbs, the
[Ne] men parle pas! s of the 2nd person singular is
[Ne] men parle pas! dropped in the imperative:

You said we had had [a bit of] everything recently hail, avoir, au pass Tu parles a Parle! (No s in the
imperative form.)
rain, wind. How did you say that again? compos
Je pense quon a tout eu.

That is, I think weve had everything. The easiest way of

remembering this expression is simply to learn the sound
of the pattern. Lets hear it again: the first part is
verb
Je pense avoir [= to have]
jai
followed by: tu as
quon a tout eu. il / elle / on a
quon a tout eu that we have had nous avons
everything. vous avez
ils / elles ont

On a thats the auxiliary verb avoir, followed past participle: eu

by eu, the past participle of the verb avoir! In
other words, We have had. Lets put this expression
to work:
We have had thunder. Note!
On a eu du tonnerre.
On a eu du tonnerre. The pronoun on means one,
people, we, depending on the
context.
We have had lightning.
On a eu des clairs. Here, we could also have:
On a eu des clairs. Nous avons eu des clairs.

We have had rain.

On a eu de la pluie.
On a eu de la pluie.

Where you see And unrelated to the weather: We have had visitors
this symbol or simply: We had visitors would be
On a eu des invits.
its your turn
to repeat what
On a eu des invits.
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.

4 Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

 Lesson 11
Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER
il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid]
il fait 24 degrs
a nous change de
Men parle pas!
on a eu
Dialogue

Amlie and Julien, weve covered a lot of ground today:

weve seen several uses of the verb faire, we know how
to describe objects as being hot or cold, we can direct
people not to do something and finally, weve used the
verb avoir in the past. Until next time!
A la prochaine.

If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for Vocab extra!
agrable................... pleasant
aujourdhui............... today
Now its your turn

beaucoup................. a lot, many

film dune cas, en tout ~........... in any case
1. Its cold today.
faon [] dtester.................... to detest, to
2. Its hot today. hate
devoir....................... to have to
3. Its cold. [In this case, youre talking about the surface of something, i.e. la surface.] clair (m).................. (flash of)
lightning
4. Weve had a surprise! [une surprise]
grle (f).................... hail
5. Ive had a disrupted afternoon. [un aprs-midi perturb] horizon, l~........... on the horizon
invit (m)................. guest
lorsque..................... when
moins, au ~............. at least
nuage (m)................ cloud
click! orage (m)................. storm
penser...................... to think

See the answers at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/answers.htm

mignon, peur (f).................... fear
peur, avoir ~ de........ to be afraid of
mignonne pisser(!).................... to piss(!)
pleuvoir des cordes... to lash with
rain
pluie (f).................... rain
quand....................... when
seul.......................... single, lone
soire (f).................. evening
sortir........................ to go out
surtout..................... especially
tonnerre (m)............ thunder
trs........................... very
trop.......................... too
vache (f)................... cow
Any questions? vent (m)................... wind

Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/question.htm click!

Any comments?

Submit them to us at http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/FTEW_pages/feedback.htm click!

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