French Lesson 1 br Language Lessons Paco: Educational and Entertaining. :) br br SETTING: br Soon, you will meet someone who will want to talk to you. It could very well be the concierge (now known as le gardien or la gardienne, if it's a woman) of your building (immeuble). Let's call him Monsieur Bertrand. br br CONVERSATION: br A) Bonjour, Monsieur. br br B) Bonjour.Vous êtes Madame Smith, n'est-ce pas? On vous attendait. br br A) Pardon? Oui, je travaille à l'ambassade. br br B) Oui, bien sûr. Je suis le gardien, M. Bertrand. br br A) Ah! Je comprends. br br A CLOSER LOOK: br Bonjour Good morning br Monsieur Sir, Mr. br Madame Mrs. br Vous You br Êtes Are br N’est-ce pas? Isn’t it? br On One br Attendait From the verb attendre: to expect, wait br Pardon Pardon me br Oui Yes br Je I br Traivaille From the verb traivailler: to work br À At br l’ambassade The embassy br Suis Am br Le The br Gardien Concierge, doorkeeper, porter br Comprends From the verb comprendre: to see, understand br Bien sûr Of course br br VOCABULARY NOTES: br bonjour: literally, good morning; but it is used as hello until the evening. br Vous êtes Monsieur…?: You are Mr…? br Or you can say: Etes-vous M…? br br Questions can be formed either by using the usual subject-verb-object word order and rising intonation as in the first example, or by inverting subject and verb, as in the second example. br br n'est-ce pas?: isn't it? used at the end of a sentence, when one expects agreement with the preceding statement. br br travaille: present, singular for of the br br verb travailler: to work. br br Bien sûr: of course. br br On vous attendait: we were expecting you. br br *The audio and the information for this video came from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) which is in the public domain.