Apprendre l'anglais

Deux annonces, vraiment -- d'abord, oui, je retourne! Ne vous inquietez pas, je suis malade, et je ne peux pas parler du tout, comme vous pouvez entendre, mais le podcast va continuer. L'autre annonce, c'est que mes examens sont finis, comme mes études ici, et je retourne aux USA mercredi. Je suis vraiment triste de quitter ce beau pays, et je vais en parler plus tard, mais je dois le faire maintenant. Alors, à bientôt tout le monde!

April Fool's Day, learned vs. learnt, tipping in America

April Fool's Day – On April 1st

Practical jokes – jokes, usually physical, at the expense of someone else

To fool someone [into something] – to trick someone [into something]

A fool – an idiot, a moron

British vs. American English

Past participle – many in American English are formed with –ed

In British English these are often formed with –t instead

Example: “I have learned” vs. “I have learnt”

Tipping

Usually NOT included, except for large groups (typically 8 or more people)

Average tip 15%, good tip around 20%, bad tip less than 15%

Hats off to the great minds who think alike

Hats off! (chapeau !)

Out the wazoo – beaucoup

Grand – mille dollars

Great minds think alike (Les grands esprits se rencontrent)

To throw a wrench into my plans – causer un probème avec mes plans

Writing a letter in English (Écrire une lettre en anglais)

Date format:

March 16, 2008

March 16th, 2008

(on peut bien sur employer les abbréviations comme “Mar.” pour “March”)

Vocabulary:

Dear – cher(e)

Hello/Hi/Hey/What's up – Bonjour/Salut/etc.

Greetings – salutations

Have a good day – bonne journée

Sincerely

Your friend – votre/ton ami(e) OU amicalement

(Best) Regards

Later – à plus tard

Until next time – à la prochaine

Talk to you later – je vous/te parlerai plus tard

See you later – je vous/te verrai plus tard

Cordially – cordialement

Love – en amour (?? Je ne suis pas certain que cela marche en français)

Example letter:

March 16th, 2008

Dear Eric,

How are you? I hope everything is going well. I have an exciting story to tell you! Call me soon.

Talk to you later,

Thomas

American government and the current presidential candidates

American government system: three branches

Executive Branch: the President

Judicial Branch: the Supreme Court

Legislative Branch: House of Representatives & Senate

Main presidential candidates: Hillary Clinton (D), Barak Obama (D), John McCain (R)

Some important issues: the war, the economy, healthcare, immigration, the environment & energy production

Primary elections vs. November elections – win a Party nomination or win the Presidency

Today we're studying indirect object pronouns

to me – me

to you – te, vous

to him – lui (un homme)

to her – lui (une femme)

to it – lui (un objet)

to us – nous

to them – leur

Notice that there is always the word “to” with each pronoun. This is similar to French when you say “à

toi” instead of “te”.

Indirect object pronouns go before the verb in French, but in English, they go after the verb:

Je parle à Jean --> Je lui parle

I'm talking to Jean --> I'm talking to him

More examples:

I threw the ball to Mary --> I threw the ball to her

You're giving money to your friend Tom --> You're giving money to him

He talks to his parents a lot --> He talks to them a lot

Waking up on the wrong side of the bed, we bring home the bacon, hands down

Vocabulary:

Caught red-handed (se faire rattraper en train de commetre un crime ou faire quelque chose de mal)

Break a leg (merde)

Hands down (sans doute)

To wake up on the wrong side of the bed (se lever du pied gauche)

To bring home the bacon (ganger la vie)

Aussi: bacon = argent

Examples:

Votre enfant mange des petits gateau-sec juste avant le diner, vous lui dites:

“I caught you red-handed!”

Juste avant le début de sa nouvelle pièce, vous dites à votre amie:

“Break a leg!”

Il n'y a pas de doute que votre équipe va gagner:

“They're going to win, hands down.”

Vous êtes de mauvais humeur, tout se passe mal:

“I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

Vous parlez à une personne très riche et lui dites:

"You really bring home the bacon!”

Sur cet episode, on continue notre étude du simple past tense.

venir de + infinitif - “just” + simple past tense

Exemples:

Je viens de lire un livre – “I just read a book.”

Il vient de manger un gâteau – “He just ate a cake”

Remarquez la différence:

We ate a cake. (on ne sait pas quand cela a eu lieu, sauf que c'était au passé)

We just ate a cake. (on sait que cela a eu lieu assez récemment, il y a 15 minutes, une heures, deux heures…mais pas il y a un mois)

Poser une question au simple past tense:

Il faut toujours le verbe auxilliare “to do”, qui au simple past tense se conjuge comme “did”. On fait l'inversion du verbe auxilliare (did) et du sujet de la phrase, et puis on met le verbe à la forme infinitive (sans “to”).

Exemples… (les fins des phrases ne sont pas ce qui est important!)

Sujet: you verbe: to go (aller)

Did you go [to the store]?

Sujet: he verbe: to see (voir)

Did he see [the new movie]?

Sujet: they verbe: to try (essayer)

Did they try [to speak English]?

Sujet: she verbe: to buy (acheter)

Did she buy [a new dress]?

In today's episode, we discuss a few current issues happening in America.

Super Bowl XLII

New England Patriots vs. New York Giants

At midnight tonight (Sunday)! Watch for a bit of culture

Historical game because if the Patriots win, they will have the record for most wins in a season

Personally – go Giants! I don't like the Patriots, so I want them to lose

The Writers' Strike

Television writers are striking against the studios

The issues: more money from DVD sales and “New Media”, meaning online and OnDemand, and

including reality TV and animation writers in the writers' guild

Costing the TV industry millions of dollars (estimates between $500 million and $1.2 billion!!)

The average American is very annoyed and wants to watch their TV shows

Short mention of politics – coming soon I will discuss the American government system and the upcoming elections in more detail!

Sur cet épisode, on continue le Simple Past tense.

Formes de quelques des verbes irréguliers:

…[consonne] + y  changez “y” en “i”, puis ajoutez “-ed”

Ex: to study  studied

…”e” à la fin  ajoutez “d” seulement

Ex: to dance  danced

Remarquez que ce n'est pas forcement un “règle”  il y a aussi des verbes qui ne marchent pas avec les formes ci-dessus, qui, très souvent, ont des formes plus irréguliers.

Quelques d'autres verbes irréguliers:

To do – did

“I did my homework.”

To eat – ate

“She ate an apple.”

To drink – drank

“He drank a Coke.”

To write – wrote

“You wrote a letter.”

To read – read

“We read a book.”

To see – saw

“They saw a monster.”

To go – went

“I went to the store.”

To come – came

“John came to my office.”

To take – took

“Alice took a picture.”

To make – made

“You made a mistake.”

To sing – sang

“We sang three songs.”

To buy – bought

“They bought a car.”

To sell – sold

“My dad sold his house.”