LESSON NOTES

Lower Intermediate S2 #15

A French Newsagent's
Recommendation

CONTENTS
2 French
2 English
3 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
4 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
5 Grammar
6 Cultural Insight

# 15
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 FRENCH

1. Charlène : Bonjour, je suis à la recherche de nouveaux magaz ines jeunesse

pour le CDI.

2. Buraliste : Nous pouvons vous proposer toute une gamme de magaz ines.
Vous recherchez quel domaine en particulier ?

3. Charlène : Oh, eh bien, je voudrais des magaz ines de culture générale, arts,
musique, actualités. Je recherche surtout pour le niveau 8-12 ans.
Et pas de magaz ine religieux ou de mode.

4. Buraliste : Evidemment. Je peux vous proposer Cosinus, pour les sciences,

Dada pour les arts, et Mon Quotidien pour l'actualité. Ce sont ceux
que je vends le plus, il est probable qu'ils aient aussi du succès au
collège.

5. Charlène : Comme j'ai déjà Phosphore et ScienceandVie Junior, je vais vous

prendre ces trois-là en abonnement. Merci !

ENGLISH

1. Charlène: Hello. I'm looking for magaz ines for young people.

2. Newsdealer: We can offer you a wide range of magaz ines. What special topic
are you looking for?

3. Charlène: Oh, well, I would like magaz ines about general knowledge, arts,
music, and news. I'm looking in particular for eight- to twelve year-
old children. And not religious or fashion magaz ines.

4. Newsdealer: Needless to say. I would recommend Cosinus for hard sciences,

Dada for arts, and Mon Quotidien for news. These are the ones I'm
selling the most, so it'll probably be a success in your secondary
school, too.

CONT'D OVER

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5. Charlène: Since I already have Phosphore and Science and Vie Junior, I'll
take a subscription for these three. Thank you!

VOCABULARY

Fr e nc h English C lass Ge nde r

buraliste newsagent noun masculine

jeunesse young people noun feminine

culture générale general knowledge noun feminine

CDI high school library noun masculine

collège secondary school noun masculine

gamme range noun feminine

domaine field noun masculine

abonnement subscription noun masculine

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Un bur alist e peut vendr e du t abac, La jeunesse fr ançaise s’invest it

des magaz ines, des jour naux et des beaucoup dans la polit ique dès le
jeux. lycée.

"A newsdealer can sell tobacco, "Young French people are involved
magazines, newspapers, and in politics starting in high school."
games."

Avoir de la cult ur e génér ale est t r ès Les ét udiant s t r availlent souvent

appr écié en Fr ance. dans le CDI.

"T o have general knowledge is "Students often work in the high

highly appreciated in France." school library."

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Le collège est une ét ape difficile J ’aime beaucoup les t hés Mar iage
pour les enfant s. Fr èr e car ils ont une gr ande gamme
de t hés différ ent s.
"Middle school is a hard step for
the children." "I really like Mariage Frère teas
because they have a huge range of
different flavors."

Il n’y a pas beaucoup d’emplois J ’ai pr is un abonnement au jour nal Le

disponibles dans mon domaine. Monde, même s’il est t r ès cher .

"T here is not a lot of employment "I subscribe to the newspaper Le

available in my field." Monde, even though it’s really
expensive."

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

Jeunesse

Jeunesse in French stands for "young people." Depending on the context, the ages
concerned change. When it's about books and magaz ines, it's usually from two to thirteen
or fourteen years old. In other contexts, such as politics or any subject in the news, the
speaker usually refers to young people with the word jeunes ("the youth"), for people from
fifteen years old to about thirty years old.

Culture générale

Culture générale ("general knowledge") is a French-specific term. General knowledge is a

point highly appreciated in daily life and working situations. Someone with a high level of
general knowledge will easily get a job, even if he or she is less skilled than another
applicant. The reason is that, at school, young French people are taught many different
subjects, and the teachers help them to arouse their curiosity. When someone has a lot of
general knowledge, we use the verb être cultivé.

For example:

1. Ce garçon est très cultivé.

"This boy is highly cultivated."

Abonnement

In France, as in many countries in the world, you can take out subscriptions for all
newspapers and magaz ines. Un abonnement can also be used for the Internet, phones, gas,

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electricity, and transportation.

For example:

1. Mon abonnement de bus se termine dans trois mois.

"My bus subscription expires in three months."

2. Je me suis abonnée au gaz pour ne plus être en retard dans mes paiements.
"I took out a subscription to the gas company so that I won't be late paying the bills."

GRAMMAR

T he Focus of t his Lesson Is Asking for Advice

Bonjour, je suis à la recherche de nouveaux magazines jeunesse pour le CDI.
"Good aft er noon. I'm looking for magaz ines for young people for t he secondar y
school libr ar y."

There are many ways in French to ask for advice. Usually, the present conditional is used to
ask for someone's help with the verb pouvoir.

Pourrais-je...? ("Could I...?")

Pourrais-tu...? ("Could you...?")

Pourrait-il/elle...? ("Could he/she...?")

Pourrions-nous...? ("Could we...?")

Pourriez-vous...? ("Could you...?") (plural or formal)

Pourraient-ils/elles...? ("Could they...?")

For the first singular person je, you can also say puis-je...? which is polite but less formal
than Pourrais-je...?

You can also use the verbs vouloir ("to want") and aimer ("to love").

J'aimerais...

Je voudrais...

Both are translated as "I would like..."

The use of the conditional for these two verbs expresses the request without asking a
question because the speaker is talking about a desire.

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For example:

1. J'aimerais manger des huitres pour Noël.

"I would like to eat oysters for Christmas."

2. Pourriez-vous me dire quel ordinateur conviendrait ?

"Could you tell me which computer would be suitable?"

Examples fr om t his dialogue:

1. Je voudrais des magazines de culture générale, arts, musique, actualités.

"I would like magaz ines about general knowledge, arts, music, and news."

Another way to ask would be, as in the dialogue, to start by:

Je suis à la recherche de... ("I'm looking for...")

You can also add:

Avez-vous un conseil ? ("Do you have any advice?")

Avez-vous une idée ? ("Do you have any idea?")

Que me conseillez-vous ? ("What would you recommend?")

For example:

1. Je cherche un cadeau pour un petit garoçon de quatre ans. Vous avez une idée?
"I'm looking for a present for a four-year-old boy. Do you have any idea?"

2. Elle aimerait une robe de soirée élégante et sobre. Que lui conseillez-vous ?
"She would like an elegant and plain dress. What would you recommend?"

Examples fr om t his dialogue:

1. Je suis à la recherche de nouveaux magazines jeunesse pour le CDI.

"I'm looking for magaz ines for young people."

CULTURAL INSIGHT

Childr en's Magaz ines

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Recently, magaz ines for children have been increasing in number and variety. You can find a
lot of magaz ines and newspapers for only youth from two to eighteen-arts, fashion, music,
general knowledge, sciences...you can find almost every subject.

The most famous are:

- Science and Vie Junior, a science magaz ine that explains with simple words all scientific
research and topics, from dinosaurs to the Higgs boson.

- Phosphore, a multi-topic magaz ine for adolescents, talking about middle school and high
school topics, jobs, daily life, relationships, philosophy...The title refers to phosphore, which is
supposed to increase intelligence.

- Mon Quotidien and Mon Petit Quotidien are daily newspapers for adolescents and children.
The point is to explain what's going on in the world with simple words, since adult
newspapers often use very formal vocabulary.

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