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Lesson

Talking about work

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Lesson 03: Thursday, June 15th, 2006 Level: beginner.

en tant que bien/mal ne pas SNCF, RER, CDI, CDD passer on peut (pouvoir) il y a

Dialogue

Hello once again, and welcome to Learn French by Podcast. My name is Hugh Nagle and here with me is Amlie Verdier. Welcome back, Amlie! Bonjour! Today, were going to talk about le monde du travail. The world of work. So, Amlie, tell us about what you do. Parle-nous de ce que tu fais dans la vie. Je travaille en tant que professeur danglais. Je trouve que cest un mtier passionnant. Jaime travailler avec les adolescents. Cest en plus un mtier bien rmunr. De plus, ce mtier est bien mieux pay que le SMIC! Lets hear that again, a second time Je travaille [] And one final time Je travaille [] Ok. So, you work as a teacher Oui. Cest exact. Je travaille en tant que professeur danglais. en tant que professeur as a teacher. Thats an expression we can use in a number of situations: for example Daniel works as a publisher Daniel travaille en tant quditeur. Or, Marianne works as a receptionist Marianne travaille en tant que rceptionniste. Now, what if we dont know, specifically, what a persons job is? Lets say John works in computers? John travaille dans linformatique. dans linformatique. Or, Helen works in sales? Hlne travaille dans la vente. dans la vente. And Jack works for IBM? Jacques travaille pour IBM. pour IBM. And one final option would be: Philippe works for himself? Philippe travaille son compte. son compte for himself. for myself, would be: Je travaille mon compte.

Remember!
le travail
A masculine noun: un travail difficile [a difficult job/task]

travailler
This is the verb, related to le travail. Its a regular er verb, like aimer: je travaille tu travailles il/elle/on travaille nous travaillons vous travaillez ils/elles travaillent

en tant que
= as (a)

en tant que
travailler en tant | quingnieur | que comptable | que vtrinaire



Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 03: Thursday, June 15th, 2006 Level: beginner.

en tant que bien/mal ne pas SNCF, RER, CDI, CDD passer on peut (pouvoir) il y a

Dialogue

Le travail de prof, cest un mtier passionnant, mais cest galement un mtier difficile, nest-ce pas? Oui. Les lves sont parfois difficiles mais, en gnral, jaime travailler avec eux. Cest un mtier stimulant, cratif et assez bien rmunr. Tell us one more time about the work of a teacher Oui. Les lves sont parfois [] assez bien rmunr quite well paid. Now if bien rmunr is well paid, Amlie, badly paid would be mal rmunr. Now, you mentioned Le SMIC? What is the SMIC? Quest-ce que cest le SMIC? Cela veut dire Salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance. En anglais, on parle du minimum wage. We meet quite a few of these acronyms like SMIC in French. When referring to the French railway, people usually speak of la SNCF cest--dire La Socit nationale des chemins de fer franais. La SNCF. And, in relation to public transport in Paris, one hears of le RER cest--dire Le rseau express rgional. The regional express network. How do you say that again? le RER. Now that word rseau, that could be used in reference to a network of computers, I suppose? Bien sr. Nous avons des rseaux dordinateurs. You mentioned le SMIC. Theres also another acronym we should remember, in relation to the money people receive Oui. Cest le RMI. Le RMI? Oui, le RMI. Cest le Revenu minimum dinsertion. Cest pour les gens qui sont au chmage, mais qui nont pas droit aux allocations chmage. Youd better explain that to us again. Who exactly receives the RMI? Cest le Revenu minimum dinsertion. Cest pour les gens qui sont au chmage, mais qui nont pas droit aux allocations de chmage.

bien, mal

la SNCF
= the French railway system.
Its la SNCF because the word socit (company) is feminine.

le RER

un rseau for both rail and computers

that is, the urban rail network which links up with the (underground) metro system in Paris.
Its le RER because the word rseau (network) is masculine.

Remember!
le SMIC
the minimum wage

le RMI
social security payments

Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 03: Thursday, June 15th, 2006 Level: beginner.

en tant que bien/mal ne pas SNCF, RER, CDI, CDD passer on peut (pouvoir) il y a

Dialogue

Now, say that just one more time I think Ive got it Alors, le Revenu minimum dinsertion, cest pour [] qui that means who, right? Les gens qui, that is, the people who Oui. Cest a. Now, thepeople who dont have (any) right to payments, thats les gens qui nont pas droit aux allocations. Before we continue, Amlie, we should stop here and say a brief word about the negative. Here we spoke about les gens qui nont pas droit people who dont have (a) right. Heres an example of the negative les gens qui nont pas droit where we have the word ne before the verb, and the word pas after the verb. Its quite simple. Lets go back to a verb we met in our last lesson lire to read. Now, I read is: Je lis. On the other hand, I dont read is: Je ne lis pas. People who have a right to would be: les gens qui ont droit Whereas, people who dont have a right to becomes: les gens qui nont pas droit . Now, to come back to your job, what type of contract have you? Quel type de contrat as-tu? Jai un CDI, cest--dire un contrat dure indtermine. What do you call that again? Un CDI. A contract of indeterminate duration in other words, I suppose, a permanent job! Now, you also have fixedterm contracts Oui. Cest un CDD un contrat dure dtermine. Un CDD. Ok. Now, on a related topic, what about your working hours? Combien dheures travailles-tu par semaine? Je travaille 16 heures par semaine. Cela me laisse beaucoup de temps libre. Cependant, je passe beaucoup de temps corriger les copies et prparer les cours. Mais je suis libre dorganiser mon emploi du

ne pas

ne pas
To make a negative, put ne (or n) in front of the verb and pas after:
Il aime le chocolat. > Il naime pas le chocolat. Elle joue de la flte. > Elle ne joue pas de la flte.

un CDI / CDD
Un CDI
literally a contract of indeterminate length. A permanent job.

Un CDD
This job contract is for a fixed duration.

Remember
16 heures par semaine
= 16 hours a (or per) week



Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 03: Thursday, June 15th, 2006 Level: beginner.

en tant que bien/mal ne pas SNCF, RER, CDI, CDD passer on peut (pouvoir) il y a

Dialogue

temps comme je le souhaite. Youve told us a lot, there. Lets hear that again Je travaille [] And a final time Je travaille [] Passer we met this verb before. It meant to sit (an exam). Here, though, it means to spend [time]. So, your working hours are quite short? oui, je passe beaucoup de temps corriger les copies et prparer les cours. Notice that, I spend time correcting is Je passe du temps corriger I spend time preparing is Je passe du temps prparer I spend time working is Je passe du temps travailler. In English, the second verb in kind of situation ends in ing. On the other hand, our second verb in French is in its full infinitive form, preceded by the preposition . On a related matter Amlie, are the French hard workers? How many ours do the French work per week? Combien dheures travaillent les Franais par semaine? Depuis 2002, nous travaillons 35 heures par semaine. Si lon travaille plus de 35 heures, on peut prendre ensuite des RTT, cest--dire des jours de cong. Lets hear that again Depuis 2002, [] And a final time Depuis 2002, [] on peut prendre one can take or, people can take. Thats a useful expression to know: on peut. Coming from the verb pouvoir to be able, it means one can, or people can. Its easy, too, right? We can simply put another verb right after it to form all sorts of combinations. One can go out On peut sortir One can eat On peut manger People can choose On peut choisir

Remember
Cela me laisse
That leaves me (more free time, etc). Notice that the pronoun me, comes in front of the verb in French. The verb in this situation is laisser, which behaves in the same way as aimer, another er verb.

passer to spend [time]

passer

passer du temps [+ verb]

This verb has several meanings. Here it means to spend [time] Passer du temps to spend time [doing]
Je passe du temps regarder la tl. Elle passe du temps faire du jardinage.

RTT
This refers to une rduction de temps de travail, that is a reduction in work time.
In other words (according to controversial work legislation introduced in 2002 which, in terms of time worked, effectively reduced the amount of work done in France by 11%), overtime can be offset by days off, calculcated on the basis of this RTT.

on peut one can

pouvoir
This key verb means to be able
Je peux tu peux il/elle/on peut nous pouvons vous pouvez ils/elles peuvent

Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 03: Thursday, June 15th, 2006 Level: beginner.

en tant que bien/mal ne pas SNCF, RER, CDI, CDD passer on peut (pouvoir) il y a

Dialogue

People can work On peut travailler. To wrap up this lesson, Amlie, what about your colleagues? Comment sont tes collgues? Mes collgues sont trs gentils et comprhensifs. Il y a un bon esprit dquipe. Cest important au travail de bien sentendre avec les autres! Tell us once more about your colleagues Mes collgues sont [] And one more time Mes collgues sont [] Now, we must watch that adjective comprhensif, which means understanding, not comprehensive! Its another one of those adjectives like those we met earlier sportif, actif, nocif. If you were speaking about a few female colleagues, youd say Elles sont comprhensives. And you said, too, that theres a good team spirit Oui, il y a un bon esprit dquipe. There is Il y a: thats a very common expression, right? For example: Theres a problem! Il y a un problme! Theres a man in the shop. Il y a un homme dans la boutique. Theres a blue house on the hill. Il y a une maison bleue sur la colline. Once again, Amlie, weve used an amount of new and useful vocabulary today. To our listeners, dont forget that all of this information is contained in a comprehensive PDF Guide, downloadable from our website at www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com. Until next time! A la prochaine!

adjectives
masculin.................. fminin gentil (kind)..............gentille comprhensif............comprhensive

il y a there is/are

il y a
means there is or there are
Watch the pronunciation of il: its like the English word eel, not ill!



Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.

Lesson 03: Thursday, June 15th, 2006 Level: beginner.

en tant que bien/mal ne pas SNCF, RER, CDI, CDD passer on peut (pouvoir) il y a

Dialogue

Vocab extra!
autre (m)................other (person) beaucoup...............a lot, many cependant..............however choisir....................to choose chmage, au ~.......unemployed colline (f)...............hill compte, son ~.....for oneself cong, jour de ~.....day off contrat (m).............contract corriger..................to correct cours (m)................lesson croissance (f)..........growth depuis....................since droit (m).................right galement..............also, equally emploi du temps....timetable ensuite...................then esprit dquipe........team spirit fer, chemin de ~....railway gentil.....................kind heure (f).................hour informatique (f).....computing laisser.....................to allow le jardinage............gardening libre........................free mtier (m)..............job mieux.....................better ordinateur (m)........computer parfois....................sometimes passionnant...........exciting plus, de ~...............furthermore plus, en ~...............furthermore pour.......................for prendre..................to take prochaine, la ~....until next time salaire (m)..............salary sr, bien ~..............certainly temps (m)..............time trouver...................to find vente (f).................sale, sales

If you understood our lesson, then you should be ready for the following

Now its your turn

1. She works as a dentist. 2. It is a badly paid job. 3. She likes working with them. 4. They have computer networks. 5. We dont read. 6. He works 20 hours a week. 7. I spend time reading. 8. People can read. 9. They are kind. [Suppose youre talking about Mr & Mrs Leclerc.]

click!
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Plus Publications, 2006. All rights reserved.