French Lesson Small

8/4/2019 French Lesson Small

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French LessonLe Meurtre

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See rhe uadrer ambling up the hill, head to rump, headto rump. Leam what a varlrr is A varlre is milked in themornrng, and milked again in the evening, lwirchingher dung-soaked tail, her head in a stanchion. Alwaysstart learning your foreign language with the names offann animals. Remembcr that onc arumal is rn aninral,bur more than one are aninaux, eru)tng tn a, :r. Do notpronounce the x. These aninrarrc live on e Jenne 'fhereis not much difference between rhat word, y'rme' andour own word for the placc where wisps ofsrraw covcreveryrhing, rhe barnyard is deep in mud, and a hotdunghill *eamr by rhe brrn door on r wintcr morning.so it should be eesy to learn. Fetne

We can now introduce the definitc articles ie, la, andles, which we know already from certain phrases we see1n our own country, such as Ie ut le sandwich, le af6,

Fteith L6'o t I 129les girls Bcsides la rarhe, thcre arc other animaux on Ia.Jt're, whose buildings are wcather-beaten, pocked withrusty nails, and lcaning at odd angles, but wtrch has anw tracror Les chiens cringc in rhc preseuce of theirntster, lt Jerniu, and bark at /es drars as lrs r/?arr slinkmewing to rl)e back door, and lcrporlctu cluck and scrarchand arc specral pcts oflc.fcnnier's children until thcy arebeheadcd by le lirniu and, plucked by ta fentne of ttJerniet with her red-knuckled hands and then cookedand catcl by chc cntrre-lrmi//r_ Until furdrcr noticc donot pronouncc the 6nal consonants ofany ofthc wordsin your new vocabulary unless they arc followcd by thclctrer e, and somerimcs nor even theu. The rulcs rndthcir nurnerous exceptions will be covercd irr latcr les-

!(/e wjll uow introduce a piece of languagc hisbryand rhen, following it, a language conceptAgrrculure rr J pursurr in Frrncr. rr ircour,try, but the word is pronounced ditlereudy, ajrr-cuhure -fhc spelling is the same because thc woril isderived from the Larin In your lessons you will noticcrhrt some French words, such as la-[rnc, rrc spcllcd thcsame way or nearly rhe s:mc way as thc, ctlLrivalentwords rn our own language, end in rhcsc crscs c wordsin both languages arc derived lrom thc sarnc Latiu wordOther Frcnch words are not at all likc oLrr words forthe same things In drese cases, the Frcnch words areusually derivcd from rhe Latin but our words ibr tlre


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1J0 I F43.h L6so Isame things are rot, rnd have come to us fiorn theAnglo-Saxon, the Danish, ald so on. Thrs is a piece ofinformation about languagc history. Thcre willbe morelanguage history in later lcssons, because language his-tory is really quite lascinaring, as we hope you will agreeby thc end of rhr: course.

We have just said that wc have our own words inEnglish lor ihe same things. This is not strictly true.We can't reatly say there arc scveral words lor the samething. It rs in fact jusr the oPposrte- therc is only oneword for mrny things, and usually even that word,when it is a noul, is too general Keep this languageconcept in mind as you listen to the following cxamplerA French arbre is not the elm or maple shading themain street ofour Ncw Englalrd to\,r'ns in thc infinitelylong, hor and listless, vacant summcr ofour childhoods,whi.h are rhemselves dillerent from the childhoods ofFrench children, rnd il you see r Frc'nchman standingon r stre(t ln a small town rn Amcricr pointing to anelm or a maple and calling ir an arbre, you will knowthr. is wrong. An arbre is a pLne trec in rn rncient (ownsquare with lopped, stubby branches and prtchy, lep-rous bark standing in a row of similar plane trees acrossftom ihe town hall, in front ofwhich a bicycle riddenby a mrn with thick, reddish skin rnd an old caP waverspast end turns tnlo a narrow lane. Or an arbre is one ofthe dense, scrubby live oaks irr the blazing dry hills ofProvencc, through which a slm ar ngure in a blu clorh

Frer.hL6\on t I 1)1jacket carrying some sort of a nct or trap pushcs hisway An arbre can also cast a pleasant shadc and kcep lamalson cool in the summer, but rcmember that ld mai\onis not wood-frarned with r widow's walk and a widefront porch but is laid our on r rorth-south axrs. is builtofrrrcgular, sand-colored blocks ofstone. and has a retlrile roof, small square windows wirh grccn shutters, andno windows on the north side, which js rlso prorectedfrom the wrnd by r closely planred line of cypresses,while a pretry mulberry or olive may shade thc southNot that lhcre rre nor many dillerent sorts of ndisons inFrance, their archirccture depclding ou their climare orol dre facr rhat there may be a loreign counrry nearby,like Germany, but we cannot really have rnore than oneimage behind a word we say, like maison. What do yor.rsee when you say hoare? l)o you see more lhan one kindofhouse?

When arc we going ro rcturn to our /enne? As wepoinced out earlicr, r language srudent should master lalirrre belore he or she moves on to /a ritlr, just :rs wcshould all come to rhe crry or y in our adolesccnt ycars,when urture. or rnimrl lifc. ir no longer as irrrporrrnror interesting to us as i! once was,lf you stand in a rilled frcld rt thc edge of ld I?m4you will hear les vathes lowtttg becausc it is five in rhewinter cvening ald rheir udders arc futt A lighr is onin the barn, but ourside it is dark aud Ia Jtnne of Ic

Jernier looks out a little anxiously across the baruyard


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1i2 I Fren.h Laron Ifrom the window of her raisire, where shc is peelinlivegetables Now thc hired man is silhouetted in thedoorway ofthe barn. L/Jcn,xe wonders why ic is srand-ing still holding a short objcc in his right band Theplural article lcs, spetled I r s, as nr i es varler' is invariable,but do uot prorounce the J Thc singular xrticle is eithermasculinc. le. or feminine, la, depending on the nouuit accompaDies, aud it mrrst always be learned along withany new noun in your vocabutary, because rhere is verylittlc else to go by, to rcll what in the world of Frenchnouus is masculinc rnd what is fcmininc You mey lryto rcmembcr that all countries eudrng in silenr e areferninirre exccpr for h Mexiq e, or thrt all the states inrhe United Strtes ofAnrerica endiDg in silent e arc fem-ininc except for Mrinc-just as in Germen tbe four sea-sons are mascuhne and all minerals are masculine-butyou wi)l soon forget these rules Onc day' however' lanaison will sccn incvitrbly fcminine to yolr, wirh itswelcoming open doors. rr shady roorns, its wrrm kilchcnLa bi.ydette, a word we rre introducing now' will rlsoseem feminine, rnd can be rhought ofas a young girl,ribbons f,uttering iu her sPokes as she wobbles downthc rutted lane away from the hrm La bicyclette Bntrhat was carlier in the ,fiernoon Now ler /ader standar the barnyard gatc, lowing and chewing rherr cudsThc word rad, and probably also the word /ouing, arewords you will not have to know in French, since youwould almost nevcr have occasion to use them

II) Fre ch L6'on I / lJJ

Now the lrired man swings opcn Ia barriirc and lesrariro anrble acro.s rhc b,rrnyard. uddcrs.uaying, upto their hocks jn la 6ore, nodding their hcads and switch_ing their trils Now their hooves clatrer across rhe con_crete floor oflagrar3c aud the hjred man swin gs la barriiresbut. But whcre is lc Jernier? And why, rr fact, js thechopping block covcred with saa3 that rs still sricky,even though le Jemier has nor k,llcd rn 2orler nr days?You will necd to usc indeEnite articlcs es wcll as de{initearticles with your nouDs, end we must rcpcar ther youwill nake no rnisrakes wirh the gclder of your nounsifyou lcarn the arricles ar the srmc time. Un is masculne,ane is feminine. This bcing so, what geDdcr is ,r, porld,)If you say masculine you are right, rhough the birdhersclf may bc a young lemale After the agc of tcnmonths, howcver, whcn she should also be stewcd ratherthan brolled, fried, or roasted, she is known as /a poalrand makes a grcat rackct after laying a clutch ofcggs ina corrrer of the poultry yard la Jinne wilt havc troublcfinding in thc mornilg, whcl she will also discovcrsomethrng that docs not belong chcre and that nakesher stand srill, her apron irll ofeggs, and gazc offacrossthe frelds

Notice that the words porile, pould, nd poulrry, es'pecially when seen ol rhe pagc, have some rcscmbbncc.This is because all rhree are derived frorn thc same Latinword. This may help you remembcr the wo:d poulet.Po le, poulet, and poulrry have no rcscurblancc to thc


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134 / l:pa.h Lssoh Iwotd chi.ken, because riirten is derived from the Anglo-Saxon,In this first lcsson we have concentrated on nouns.We can safely, howcver, introduce a preposition at thispoint, and before wc are through we will also be usingone verb, so rhat by the end of tbe lesson you will beable to form some simple serltences. Try to learn whatthis preposition means by the contexr in which it is used-You will noticc that you have been doing rhis all alongwith most of the vocrbulary iDtroduced. lt is a goodway to learn a languege becausc it is how children lcarntheir native languages, by associating the sounds rheyhear with the context in which the sounds arc utrcredIf the context changed continually, rhe children wouldnever learn to speak Also, the so-called meaning of aword is complerely determined by the contexc in whichit is spoken, so rhit irr facr we cannor.ia1'.r merning rsinescapably attached to a word, but that it shifts overtime and from contcxr to context Certajnly rhe so-calledmeaning ofa French word, as I trred to suggest earlier,is not its Englrsh cquiv:lenr bur whatevcr it rel'er. to rnFrench life. Thesc are modern or conremporary ideesabout language, but they are generally acccpted. Nowth nw word we are adding to our vocabulary is theword dans, spelled dans Remember not ro pronouncethe lastletler, r, or, in this crse, the nexr to thc lasr letrer,r, and speak the word through your nose. Ddrr

Do you remember la.pmme? Do you remember whar

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Fren.h L6sof I / 135she was doing? It is still dark, /er rarles are gone lromher sight and quieter rhan they were ea(lier, except forthe one bellowrng uade who is ill and was nor let outthat morning 6y le Jemier for feer that sbe would infecrthe others, and lrltrnme is still there, peeling vegetables.She is-now Iisten carefully-/ans la cuisine. Do yot)remember what ld rririn is? It is rhe only place, exceprperhaps for the sunny front courtyerd on r cool latesummer altemoon, where une Jemme would reasonablypeel les legunes

La fenme is holding a sm all knife dans hcr red-knu ckledhand and there are bics ofpotato skin sruck to her wrist,jusr as there are feathers sruck in /r rdflj on rhe choppingblock outside thc brck door, smaller fcathers, however,than would be expeced from ,rr porler The glisteningwhite peeled pomrflrr de terre arc dans une bassinc md labassine is dans the srrrk, and les uthes xe dans la grange,where they should havc been an hour ago Above thcmche beles ofhay are stacked nearly ddrr the loft, and ncarthem is a calf dans thc catves' pcn The rows of barclight bulbs in the cciling shine on the clanking sran-chions. Srdn.rio, is another word you will probably lothrve to know in French, rhough it is a nice onc to knowin Enghsh.

Now that you know the words la Jenm , dans, an


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136 I Fre .h Lst lerl-spelled e r I but don't pronounce the r or thc r-ilaas Ia nisine. Here are a few more simple sentences topractice on: La uache cst dans la panfe. La ponne de terreelt dans Ia bassi e. La bassine esr dans tlie sink.The whcrcabouts of le Jermier s more of a problem,but in thc ncxt lesson we may be able to tollow himirrto la uille. Bcforc goiug on to la ville, however, dostudy the list of additional vocabulary:

le sar bag/d {/i'ler thrushI'aile: wingIa hathette: h*chetIe nanthe. hndleIe neurrre: morder

Once a VeryStupid Man

She rs tired and a lirtle ill and not thinking very clearlyand as she tries to get dresscd shekeeps asking hrrn whereher rhings arc and he very patiently tclls her whcrc eachthrng is-6rst her panrs, then her shirt, then her socks.then her glasses. He suggests to hcr rhat sbe should puther glasses on rnd she does. but this doesn'r sccm tohelp very much. Therc isn't much light coming into thcroom. Part ofthe way through rhis search and this :rr-tempt to dress hersclf she lies down on the bcd rnostlydressed while helies under the covers after crrlicr gcttingup to feed the cat, opcning rhe can of lood widr .r noisethat puzzlcd her because it sounded like nrilk sc;uirtlrgfrom the teat of a cow inro a metal buckcr. As she Lcsthere nearly dressed beside him hc talks to hcr srcrdrlyabout various things, and after a whilc, rs shc has beenlistening ro him wirh diferent reacridrs rccording ro

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