LEARN

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

Lesson

11

Talking about
the weather

Plus Publications
Bramley
Douglas Road
Cork
Ireland
(t) 353-(0)21-4847444
(f) 353-(0)21-4847675
(e) editor@learnfrenchbypodcast.com
(i) www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com

Lesson 11
Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER

Dialogue

il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid]

il fait 24 degrs
a nous change de
Men parle pas!
on a eu

Hello again from Learn French by Podcast. My name is

Hugh Nagle and joining me in the studio today is Amlie
Verdier bonjour Amlie!
Bonjour!

Note!
il risque dy avoir
This expression means Theres a risk
of (there being)
In this context, it means Theres a
risk of thunder

and Julien Gruet bonjour Julien!

Bonjour!
Todays short podcast will give us some vocabulary
to discuss the weather. Lets listen first to a short
conversation
Bonjour!
Bonjour!
Il fait beau aujourdhui!
Oui, il ny a pas un seul nuage lhorizon!
En plus il fait chaud! Je pense quil fait au moins 24
degrs. Cest agrable!
Oui, mais sil fait trop chaud, il risque dy avoir de
lorage dans la soire!
Jai peur de lorage! Surtout lorsque quil y a
beaucoup dclairs et du tonnerre!
En tout cas, a nous change dil y a une semaine! Il
faisait un temps de chien!
Men parle pas! Je pense quon a tout eu! Grle,
pluie, vent! Je dteste quand je dois sortir et quil
pleut des cordes!

Remember!
avoir peur de [= to be afraid]
jai
| peur de lorage
nous avons |
Note the use of the verb avoir in
French. The expression really means to
have fear of (something).

Remember!
il y a
This expression can mean There is /
are or, in this case, ago:
Il y a une semaine = a week ago

Now, lets hear all that once again

Bonjour!
Bonjour! []

Note!
pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse

And one final time

Bonjour!
Bonjour! []
When you described todays weather, Julien, you said
Il fait beau.
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.

Where you see

this symbol
its your turn
to repeat what
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.

2

faire [in
relation to
the weather]

The verb faire appeared again when you mentioned

todays temperature. You said
Il fait au moins 24 degrs.

Il pleut comme vache qui pisse! means Its raining

like well, you can guess, cant you? Similar in meaning
but less colourful is the expression: Il pleut des
cordes.

And, yet again, we heard the verb faire when you worried
that it might get too hot. That expression was
Sil fait trop chaud

pleuvoir [= to rain]
il pleut.....................its raining
il a plu......................it rained
il pleuvra.................it will rain

Now, to simplify things for a moment, and practice using

this verb, the expression Its hot! is
Il fait chaud.
Il fait chaud.

Note that pleuvoir is an impersonal verb: its used only

in the 3rd person singular, that, is with the pronoun il.

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.
Il fait trs chaud.

Remember!
trs...........................very
trop..........................too

And, its too hot is

Il fait trop chaud.
Il fait trop chaud.

Remember!

In the middle of winter, we might talk of the cold

Il fait froid.
Il fait froid.
Its very cold
Il fait trs froid.
Il fait trs froid.

its your turn

to repeat what
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.

Plus Publications. All rights reserved.

Cest chaud.

tre

oneself*

Jai chaud.

avoir

*A year can also be une anne.

As a general rule, une anne is found
in more specific contexts:
lanne scolaire (the school year)
depuis le dbut de lanne (since
the start of the year)

We have the feminine plural form of the adjective

froides as we are describing someones hands
and la main is feminine. So remember, faire for the
weather, tre for objects.

Where you see

this symbol

faire

objects

une semaine...........a week

un mois....................a month
un an*......................a year

Thats Cest chaud the verb tre. If we were to say

Your hands are cold, wed hear
Tes mains sont froides.

Literally, It changes us though, in English, we simply

say It has changed .
Amlie, Theres been a change since a month
ago would be
a nous change dil y a un mois.
a nous change dil y a un mois.

Il fait beau.

Remember!

Now, we must point out that the use of the verb faire in
these cases relates to the weather. On the other hand, if
were talking about an object being hot, for example the
cooker, in that case we use the verb tre. We might warn a
child who was about to approach a fire
Attentionau feu! Cest chaud!

Lets hear that once again

a nous change dil y a une semaine.
a nous change dil y a une semaine.

Thats the verb

the weather

*In this conversation, we didnt hear Jai chaud/froid. Remember,

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.

Amlie, we heard you mention that there was a change

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

In relation to We say

a nous
change de
a
a is an abbreviation of the word Cela
(= That).
Cela can be quite emphatic, as in the
following examples:
Cela ne fait aucun doute.
[= Theres no doubt about that.]
Cela nous rassure.
[= That reassures us.]

Lesson 11
Level: beginner. DISCUSSING THE WEATHER

Dialogue

il fait [beau / mauvais / chaud / froid]

il fait 24 degrs
a nous change de
Men parle pas!
on a eu

and, from a year ago

a nous change dil y a un an.
a nous change dil y a un an.
Not only in relation to the weather, but in a wide variety
of contexts, we would use the expression Dont talk to
me! or Dont mention that!. In French, we have the
expression
Men parle pas!

imperative
The Imperative

negative
imperative

In this situation (on the left), what we

are really saying is: Dont [you] talk to
me about that!
Ne men parle pas! comes from the
2nd person singular of the verb
parler, a regular er verb.

In fact, this negative imperative is Ne men parle pas! but

remember, in quick, spoken French, the initial Ne
tends not to be heard. Lets hear that once more
[Ne] men parle pas!
[Ne] men parle pas!
You said we had had [a bit of] everything recently hail,
rain, wind. How did you say that again?
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
Je pense
followed by:
quon a tout eu.
quon a tout eu that we have had
everything.
On a thats the auxiliary verb avoir, followed
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.
On a eu du tonnerre.
On a eu du tonnerre.
We have had lightning.
On a eu des clairs.
On a eu des clairs.

This is the form of the verb we use

when we are ordering or directing
someone to do something.

In the case of er verbs, the

s of the 2nd person singular is
dropped in the imperative:

avoir, au pass
compos

Tu parles a Parle! (No s in the

imperative form.)

verb
avoir [= to have]
jai
tu as
il / elle / on a
nous avons
vous avez
ils / elles ont
past participle: eu

Note!
The pronoun on means one,
people, we, depending on the
context.
Here, we could also have:
Nous avons eu des clairs.

We have had rain.

On a eu de la pluie.
On a eu de la pluie.
Where you see
this symbol
its your turn
to repeat what
youve heard.
Then well
repeat once
more.

4

And unrelated to the weather: We have had visitors

or simply: We had visitors would be
On a eu des invits.
On a eu des invits.

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.

Now its your turn

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

1. Its cold today.

2. Its hot today.

Vocab extra!

film dune
faon []

3. Its cold. [In this case, youre talking about the surface of something, i.e. la surface.]
4. Weve had a surprise! [une surprise]
5. Ive had a disrupted afternoon. [un aprs-midi perturb]

click!

mignon,
mignonne

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

Any questions?

agrable................... pleasant
aujourdhui............... today
beaucoup................. a lot, many
cas, en tout ~........... in any case
dtester.................... to detest, to
hate
devoir....................... to have to
clair (m).................. (flash of)
lightning
grle (f).................... hail
horizon, l~........... on the horizon
invit (m)................. guest
lorsque..................... when
moins, au ~............. at least
nuage (m)................ cloud
orage (m)................. storm
penser...................... to think
peur (f).................... fear
peur, avoir ~ de........ to be afraid of
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
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!

Plus Publications. All rights reserved.