Ted: Bonjour et bienvenue à Parlez Away ! Je suis Ted, je suis Américain, je suis linguiste, j’habite à Berlin. Et j’apprends le français avec Caroline. [sighs] And damn it's not easy… Salut, Caro !

Caro: Salut, mon cher Ted !

Ted: Ça va ?

Caro: Bravo Ted ! Great opening! Ça va super, et toi ?

Ted: Très bien, merci. I am so excited to be back for our fourth episode! But I see that we have a guest today! Salut, Laure !

Laure: Salut !

Caro: Laure… Ted and I know you quite well since you are literally the beautiful female voice of our Babbel French lessons… Which some listeners will maybe notice in a sec… But would you like to say a few words about yourself to our listeners?

Laure: Bien sûr ! Je m’appelle Laure, je travaille à Babbel, j’adore le chocolat, je suis fan de The Handmaid’s Tale et… Ah, oui ! Je suis de Corse !

Caro: Corsica to Berlin? You left your beautiful island in the Mediterranean for the freezing capital city of Germany? What a change of life! Are you mad?!

Laure: Yeah, I know! But I love Berlin! It has its charms too.

Caro: Cool! Well my dear Ted… On a du pain sur la planche aujourd’hui !

Ted: Er… What?

Caro: On a du pain sur la planche ! Do you know this expression?

Ted: Um… no, I have never heard that in my life.

Caro: It means that we have a lot on our plate!

Ted: OK… Can I hear it one more time?

Caro: [repeats slowly] Literally, we have bread on our board.

Ted: [repeats slowly] 

Caro:  Yeah, on a du pain sur la planche. Perfect! In the previous episodes, you learned how to greet and how to introduce yourself. Today, you’re gonna learn some interesting conversation starters… What do you think, are you ready?

Ted: Always!

Caro: And you Laure, are you ready to help Ted in his learning today?

Laure: Bien sûr !

Caro: Cool, then… Ted, imagine you meet Laure for the first time on one of Corsica’s beaches. Wouldn't that be nice, right? What could you say to break the ice with her? Let’s do a quick role play.

Ted: OK… Salut, comment tu t’appelles ?

Laure: Salut ! Je m’appelle Laure, et toi ?

Ted: Je suis Ted. Tu es d’où ?

Laure: Je suis de Corse.

Ted: Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ?

[laughs]

Laure: Ted! Oh, no… That's so cliché! You can't say that… No!
 

Caro: And now let’s listen together to our first dialogue and see what we can learn from it… C’est parti ?

Ted: Oui !

Ted: Ooh… It’s hot in here! These two are clearly flirting!

Caro: Yes, and do they know each other?

Ted: I don't think so, because the guy asks if she has WhatsApp and she gives her number at the end.

Caro: Yes, there's certainly some chemistry here… But tell me, what is the first thing he asks her?

Ted: Ah, I know that! He asks how old she is. He says: Tu as quel âge ?

Caro: Wow! Bravo Ted, you knew that. I am impressed!

Ted: Yeah, that one stuck with me, because it was such a surprise to learn that in French, you literally “have” your age, whereas in English you “are” your age, if that makes sense.

Caro: Absolutely! So we use “tu as” (which means "you have") for the question…

Ted: Tu as.

Caro: And “j’ai” (which means "I have") for the answer.

Ted: J’ai.

Caro: And what’s the girl’s answer, Ted?

Ted: J'ai 30 ans.

Caro: Exactement. J’ai 30 ans. "I have 30 years," literally.
So, Ted: Tu as quel âge ?

Ted: J’ai… twenty-nine?

Caro: [laughs] Vingt-neuf. Damned French numbers…!

Ted: OK… J’ai vingt-neuf ans.

Caro: Cool ! Now Ted, let’s practice a bit with j’ai. Try to tell us in a few sentences what you have.

Ted: OK… J’ai un vélo. J’ai un appartement. Et j'ai une copine. [Caro translates as Ted speaks]

Caro: And if it's a boyfriend, you would say, "J'ai un copain."

Ted: OK.

Caro: Parfait ! Do you know that you can also express a physical sensation with the verb “avoir” (to have)? You can say for example that you are hungry. How would you say that?

Ted: I know this one: J’ai faim.

Caro: Oui ! Or you can say that you are cold by saying, "J’ai froid."

Ted: J'ai froid.

Caro: Super. And you can also express that you are scared. Do you know that one?

Ted: I'm afraid not.

Caro: J'ai peur. [Ted repeats] Très bien, with a very beautiful French "r".

Ted: Merci.

Caro: And last but not least, you can say that you are sleepy. How would you say that?

Ted: Je suis fatigué ?

Caro: Close, it means “I am tired.” Or if you want to say that you are sleepy, you say, "J’ai sommeil." See? Unlike English, you always use the verb “avoir” in these little sentences. Shall we recap them quickly?

Ted: OK…

Caro: So… How do you say, “I am sleepy”?

Ted: J’ai sommeil.

Caro: Oui ! And “I am hungry”?

Ted: J’ai faim.

Caro: Parfait ! And “I am scared”?

Ted: Hm… I don't remember. Can you help me out?

Caro: J'ai peur. 

Ted: OK – j'ai peur.

Caro: And the last one, courage! How do you say, “I am cold”?

Ted: J’ai froid!

Caro: Brilliant! Well… almost! Laure, can you help him one last time to memorize those expressions?

Laure: Sure, I would love that! So… OK, imagine… Ted, get ready.

Gianluca, our lovely Italian colleague, suddenly stops working at 1 pm. You can hear his charming stomach growling. What does he say to you, Ted?

Ted: "Ted, j'ai faim"?

Laure: Perfect, you got this! And now, look at Claudine, our podcast producer. She is wearing a coat, gloves, and a wool scarf in the studio. What would she surely say if she could speak?

Ted: J'ai froid.

Laure: Perfect! Is that right, Claudine? [Claudine responds off-mic] And well, now that we are chatting together, it looks like Caro's eyelids are slowly drooping and her head is nodding. What do you think she is thinking, right now?

Ted: She's probably thinking, "J'ai sommeil."

Caro: It’s not true!

Laure: But imagine now, back to your childhood. It’s midnight, you're watching Jaws at home with friends… What do you say after, like, ten minutes?

Ted: Oh God, that movie scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. So… J'ai peur.

Laure: Yes, excellent!

Caro: Excellent Ted ! And of course, you can also ask someone, Tu as peur ? Are you scared? And so on… just by using a rising intonation.

Laure: Well, Caro, let’s be honest. He is never ever gonna hear "tu as" in France, right? I mean, Ted, have you ever heard your girlfriend or her friends say "tu as"?

Ted: Yeah, of course, all the time! I mean, it's a really common thing to say, right?

Laure: Well, I mean, in the spoken language, among friends for example, we never say “tu as”, we say “t’as”. It’s just pronounced a little bit differently… Doesn’t it sound familiar to you?

Ted: I guess now that I think about it, yeah, I hear "t'as" a lot.

Laure: Yeah, well, then try me. Ask me a question as a real French guy would ******* do!

Ted: OK… T’as un problème, Laure ?

Laure: Yeah, you got it! Any other questions?

Ted: T’as faim ?

Laure: Yes. Oui ! J’ai faim, j’ai froid, j’ai sommeil, et j’ai peur…

Caro: Poor Laure… What about we just move on to the next
situation… Ted, please, listen carefully!

Caro: So Ted… What’s the situation here?

Ted: Sounds like a guy's calling his friend and he asks if she's doing well. And then he asks if she's free.

Caro: Correct! How does he ask that?

Ted: He says, "Tu es libre ?"

Caro: Yeah. Tu es libre ce soir ? Are you free tonight? See, that’s what you could use instead of, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ?”

Ted: [laughs] That's good to know.

Laure: But hey, sorry guys, again… But that’s not exactly what he said… Can we listen to this one little sentence again please?

Caro: Bien sûr, Laure !

- T’es libre ce soir ?

Laure: See?

Ted: Ah, yeah, he says, “t’es libre”.

Laure: Yeah, you know, it’s just like “tu as”… You won’t hear “tu es” often in France. You will rather hear “t’es”. And it's the same also for “je suis”: "Chui libre." Je suis… chui libre. But you don’t have to memorize that, it's just for you to know in case you ever hear it.

Caro: Well… Let’s practice a bit! Ted, exchange a few words with Laure, but use “t’es” instead of “tu es”.

Ted: Avec plaisir ! Laure… T’es fantastique.

Laure: Oh… Merci !

Ted: T’es super intelligente.

Laure: Ooh… Right back at you!

Ted: T’es cooooool.

Laure: Oh, stop… You're making me blush.

Ted: Mais t’es bizarre… A bit.

Laure: What? Je suis bizarre, moi ? Come on, Ted, be nice!

Caro: OK… I think you speak like a real French person now, Ted. And I have a question for you. The guy on the phone repeats the same question twice, but in a different way… Do you remember that? Shall we hear this short snippet again?

Ted: Oui, s’il te plaît !

Ted: Ah, yeah… He says, “est-ce que”.

Caro: Yes! You already know that you can ask a question with a rising intonation whereas the answer is given with a falling intonation. And there is another very very common way of asking questions. Very simple. You just add “est-ce que” at the beginning of the question. Did you know that? You have surely heard that before…

Ted: Yeah, I heard that a lot in Paris, and I remember a very important question that I asked with "est-ce que", and that was, "Marc, est-ce que tu as le wifi ?"

Caro: The wifi? Yeah, le wifi, a very useful sentence indeed!

Ted: But… there is something that I don’t know… What’s the difference exactly? What does “est-ce que” bring to the question?

Caro: Good question! Actually, nothing. [laughs] But it’s important to know it, because we use it a lot in the spoken language. You know, it’s not that elegant but it's quite conversational… You will hear it in all circumstances…

Ted: Alright, well I guess it's useful to know a couple different ways to ask questions.

Laure: It does sound a bit strange but it’s quite easy. If you want, I can ask you some questions with a rising intonation and then you try to reformulate them with "est-ce que". What do you say?

Ted: Sure!

Laure: OK! Tu as froid ?

Ted: Est-ce que tu as froid ?

Laure: Perfect. Tu es Américain ?

Ted: Est-ce que tu es Américain ?

Laure: Superb! Tu as un copain ?

Ted: Est-ce que tu as un copain ?

Laure: Wow, you've mastered this! Cool! Do you feel ready to ask me your own question, now?

Ted: Yeah, sure. Est-ce que tu es contente ?

Laure: Ah. "Est-ce que tu es contente": are you happy. Oui, je suis contente. But if you want to have the colloquial version of this question, you would say, "Est-ce que t’es contente ?". But you're pretty good at this.

Ted: Thank you.

Caro: OK, cool ! We have one last question, Ted. How would you end a conversation on the phone with a French friend?

Ted: I guess I would say, "À tout".

Caro: You got it! "À tout" – see you later. Let’s hear how the two end the phone call, OK?

Ted: OK!

Ted: Ah, that's cute! "Bisous" – that means "kisses"!

Caro: Yeah, exactement! You know our custom among friends to kiss on the cheek as a greeting… So no wonder we also finish a phone call with “bisous”!

Ted: OK, so can I say "bisous" when I finish a phone call with my girlfriend?

Caro: Well, you can. Yeah, it's more affectionate than sexy, but, uh… What do you say, Laure?

Laure: I definitely don't use "bisous", no. No no, not sexy.

Caro: I use it. OK, great. Ted, now, we would like to play a little guessing game with you…
 
In a sec you will hear a short clip of an interview. And with everything you have learned, you should be able to guess who is talking to our little Babbel reporter… Are you up for it?

Ted: Oui.

Caro: As usual, don’t panic if you don’t understand everything, it’s normal. Just focus on some key words, right? Let's go!

- Tu as quel âge ?
- J’ai 300 000 ans…
- Est-ce que tu as froid ?
- Non. J’adore les temperatures froides. J’habite en Alaska, en Sibérie, au Groenland et au Canada… J’aime l’Océan Arctique.
- Est-ce que tu as sommeil ?
- Oui. J’hiberne parfois…
- Est-ce que tu as faim ?
- Oui. Je mange sur la terre et dans l’eau.
- Est-ce que tu as peur ?
- Oh oui, j’ai peur… J’ai peur du changement climatique…

Ted: Hm… I think I need to hear the beginning again.

Caro: OK.

Caro: Is it difficult? C'est difficile ?

Ted: Yeah, a bit… Wait, so I'm supposed to guess who is talking.

Caro: Who is it?

Ted: OK. What do they say… They say how old… That was tough.

Caro: 300 000 ans. It's a lot of zeroes.

Ted: OK. 300 000 ans. "Trois cent [mille]" is three hundred thousand years old. 

Caro: Yes, very old… thing. So, it is not necessarily a person, it can be something else, like an animal – un animal. 

Ted: OK… And it said that they live in Alaska and Siberia and Greenland… Is it an animal that's still alive?

Caro: Oui. He says, "J'ai peur du changement climatique."

Ted: OK, so, "I'm afraid of climate change." Right, OK… And he likes the cold.

Caro: Le froid.

Ted: Yeah, le froid. Uh… penguins? [sound effect] I don't know…

Caro: It's a neighbor, it's a neighbor. C'est l'ours polaire – polar bear.

Ted: Ah, of course… OK, polar bear.

Caro: You didn't guess, but you understood a lot from this interview, so that's really encouraging. Bravo !

Ted: Merci.

Caro: Do you have any questions?

Ted: Um… no.

Caro: OK, then we are slowly reaching the end of this episode…

Laure: Yes, and guys, I heard you always have a quiz at the end. And I have prepared some questions. Can I ask them?

Ted: Of course.

Caro: Vas-y !

Laure: Cool !

So imagine, Ted: Caro is wearing her bikini on the polar ice cap and she's shaking all over of course…
 
 What do you ask her?
 
 1. Tu as sommeil ?
2. Tu as froid ?
3. Tu as faim ?

Ted: Tu as froid ?

Caro: J'ai froid, obviously!

Laure: Of course. And Caro is starting to act really strangely. Suddenly, she pounces on a poor seal that happened to be there and she devours it. What do you say?

1. Est-ce que tu as Whatsapp ?
2. Tu as faim ?
3. Je suis libre ce soir.

Ted: Tu as faim ?

Laure: Clearly. And damn, her hunger is still unsatisfied so she starts running towards you, Ted…

What’s your reaction?

1. Bisous !
2. J’ai peur !
3. J’ai 30 ans.

Laure: End of the nightmare! You wake up, it's Friday. You are so relieved you're still alive that you want to celebrate by having a drink with Caro… It's an open question, Ted: how do you ask her if she is free?

Ted: Um… I would say, "Caro, est-ce que tu es libre ce soir ?"

Laure: Whoa!

Caro: Oui !

Laure: Man, perfect! You did both versions. Wow, very good Ted.

Well, I have one last question. Again, it's an open one. Caro has just celebrated her birthday (for reals!). How old did she turn? Can you ask her?

Ted: Sure! Caro, tu as quel âge ?

Caro: J'ai 30 ans.

Laure: Wow, it's impressive. Bravo Ted ! I knew you could do it! And again… Bon anniversaire Caro ! Happy birthday! 

Ted: Bon anniversaire !

Caro: Dear listeners, it's 1 pm in Berlin and we are about to close our episode! Thanks for listening to Parlez Away, the Babbel podcast for French beginners! We hope you enjoyed learning along with our favorite colleague, Ted. And don't forget to tell us how great we are at podcasting@babbel.com, and have a fantastic time learning French!

See you soon for the next episode, which will surely whet your
appetite… Au revoir !

By the way, j'ai faim… Et toi, Ted ?

Ted: Ah oui, j'ai mega faim…

Laure: Moi aussi, j'ai super faim…

Caro: Et toi, Claudine ? On mange ensemble ?

Laure: Allez…