Ready-made French sentences for when you don’t understand
French people speak FAST and may use words you don’t understand. Here’s how to respond when this happens.
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It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been learning French - eventually, someone will say something that you didn’t understand. Maybe they spoke too fast or used a word that you’re not familiar with... and, unfortunately, you can’t rely on subtitles in real life ;) .
You want to use and practice your French, so of course you don’t want to switch the conversation to English. What can you do instead? I’ll show you in today’s video lesson, with some easy sentences that you can memorize and use whenever you don’t understand what someone just said to you in French.
Take care and stay safe.
😘 from Grenoble, France.
Géraldine
Je me rappelle d'avoir commencé à regarder vos vidéos quand j'avais 13 ans et je suis arrivé en France au collège. À l'époque je ne comprenais quasi rien des vidéos mais avec le temps j'ai commencé à comprendre. Maintenant j'ai 18 ans et je comprends tout bien évidemment, et je tenais à vous remercier Géraldine pour vos vidéos et le temps que vous y consacrez. Bonnes fêtes 😊
Another great video lesson, Geraldine. Thank you.
WOW!! What a great lesson!! I will be rewatching this. Thank you!
Thanks, this was so helpful!
Bonjour Geraldine! I just started learning French a few days ago. I don't why except that I noticed very similar patterns between Spanish and French words and sentence structures. Then, I just got hooked in French and your classes! Your lessons are very clear and entertaining! Thanks so much and more power to you!
Few years ago I was told a statement like that: "If your mother tongue is Spanish you've got already 50% of French". As I see from my multilingual environment, it's complete truth.
Thank you so much for helping us understand deeper about french language! Merci❤️
I enjoy your lessons and they are free!
Dear Géraldine, that was a great lesson and extremely helpful. Thank you! 💕
Salut Geraldine! Such a lovely long video... un cadeau de Noël with the extra help and tips! Merci encore!
Excellent presentation!
Love this lesson! Merci beaucoup
Merci, Gerladine! Je apprender boucoup de choses avec toi!!
You are a good teacher
Just what I needed! Thank you. You have a great teaching style.
Thank you for your message and kind words, @donross7820! Each week we provide a new spoken French lesson to help you improve your modern, every day French. You can receive this lesson straight to your inbox by joining our mailing list here: www.commeunefrancaise.com/youtube-welcome?&source=youtubecom -Lyndsie Comme une Française Team
très bien, merci!
merci mille! :) Quelle bonne chaine!
Merci!
Gerardinne, not only french people speake fast, all idiomas do that. Thanks for your lesson. I apreciate you very much. Sory for my Inghish
I have no intention of learning french, I just like listening to her
Ha ha..! we are so on the same page.. i just love your intro to this presentation.. !!Its so me.. stuck for words, lost the plot, and the conversation is off down the road and Im standing there like a dumb bunny! Now at least I have some phrases, and even a sentence to keep me in the conversation. Bravo.
Géraldine!! Your videos are so helpful, i love them! ❤️ And you're absolutely right.. I'm teaching English now to French people and there are times when I don't understand what they say and I just... Laugh with them if I think what they said was funny 🤭😂 hahaha or I nod and said, "ah, oui, je vois." Or "Hmm, je comprends." Hahaha i really gotta brush up some expressions.. parfois c'est difficile surtout s'ils utilisent le langage courant. On ne l'a pas appris à l'école, après tout ! 🥲😂
Awesome!
Ah, moi j'suis super contente de rendre compte du fait je pouvais en vrai bien capter tout ce que t'as dit la`😊; comme toujours ceci c'est encore une autre merveilleuse video archi-utile, et merci autant pour c,a 😘...!! ¬Je vous souhaite une hyper *Bonne✨Annee/2022* a` toi et tes proches, chere **Geraldine** 😁💖💖💖
Super!
I think the first thing I learnt in french was 'attende je comprends pas' as my husband and I when we first met we spoke via google translate and I'd still try to talk to him in english and he would still try to talk to me in french xD there's much less 'comprends pas' now though, you'll be happy to hear :P
Merci beaucoup pour toutes vos vidéos ! Parfois, au lieu de quand je parle avec les gens qui parlent français.
Please when the sentence gets longer Go slower at the added part of the longer sentence. Its not about repeated it still needs to be slower. Or maybe its good for everyone else And i need to find slower. You are beautiful and nice and passionate about teaching and I just found your channel.
Happy New Year Geraldine. 🥳 I have given in to the repetitive nature of KZhead recommendations and have decided to watch this lesson. I am wondering how you are in social etiquette? Can you please explain how a non achiever such as myself can be of attraction to very competitive over achievers? The posed question makes no sense to my understandings so I thought I would ask if you could shine a light on the dank occasion. Kind regards LM
Vous Êtes Super et Excellente 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 Merci Beaucoup
Because the words don't sound like they look at all I'm all over the place with pronunciation, lol. I can't always figure out how to end the word, if maybe you can say every time which letters are thrown away at the end that might help. I have noticed you say the t, but sometimes it also sounds like the s, or l or whatever in random words are also silent. Thank you.
Love you, Geraldine, and your Clear detailed lessons. But the French R eludes me. The Nasals not a problem. It's the R...
Excelent lesson, as always. I noticed that you never link "pas" when the next word starts with a vowel - pas entendu - but sometimes I hear "pazentendu". Is that a regional thing? Which is more common in Paris? Thanks!
I noticed that, too. What happened to 'ligation'?
Liaison still exists. Listen to Chirac!
There are three cases as for liaisons: 1) forbidden 2) obligatory 2) optionnal. Ex you prononce une hache uneuh ache (une and hache are separated by a silence) because the h of hache is aspiré 2) ex un hôtel is prononced un notel, un hôpital is un nopital, because their h is muet, et is also never subject to liaison, numbers also (you say un un (a one) un - silence - un), or un onze (an eleven) un - silence- onze). 3) most cases are optional, but is usually better to do the liaison. Pas is subject to optional liaison. People who speak well would say pas zencore for pas encore.
Comme d'habitude, c'était interessant, merci Géraldine. Au lieu de compliments traditionneles et superlatifs, permettez-moi de vous poser une question. Dans une phrase "Pardon, je n'ai pas compris ce que tu viens de dire" ne serait-il plus logique le passé immédiat dans une première partie? Alors, "...je ne viens de coprendre..." Ce changement equilibrerais grammaticallement de deux parts de cette phrase complexe, je pense. Prenez soin de vous.
Bonjour Gérarldine ! Why ce que instead of only que ? What difference it makes if only que is used ?
Thank you so much for this! *One question, please:* Do people say "Pourriez-vous repetez, svp?" in everyday conversations? (If so, when?) My French teacher told me it was too formal. Is that true? Thanks so much in advance! 🌺
Auriez vous l'obligeance de répéter would be formal (in front of a client, your boss, teacher...). Pourriez vous répéter s'il vous plait is adapted to common situations. J'ai rien capté or pigé is clearly uncorrect for two reasons : ne is omitted, capter is referring to radio/tv (antennas), piger is slung. One would say that is representative to teenagers speaking together. With a friend, a colleague, you can just say comment?.
@@veraciteabsolue1221 Thank you so much for the detailed explanation! Much appreciated. 👍🥰
@@s.susanmarandi9080 You are welcome. Contact me here if you have other questions.
Hi! I have been self studying French with you for some time now. I have question though if you don't mind. As a beginner how would I recognize the word dit from dire. To my inexperienced ear, they kinda pretty much have the same sound. Thanks
If I may answer, to be corrected if I am wrong ... 'dit' is a very short, clipped version of 'dee'. You 'bite off' the 'ee' sound as soon as you start to say it. The 't' is silent unless followed by a vowel for example "dit _encore,s.v.p". "Say again, please" 'Dire' is unmistakeably different as it has the rolled 'r' following the short, sharp 'i'. Very nearly as per the animal 'deer'. In fact, if you used the French rolled 'r', 'dee would do.
We don't say : "Je n'ai pas compris ce que tu as dit. Pourrais tu le répéter s'il te plais ?" We say : "Hein ?"
Geraldine I love your enthusiasm in teaching but the thing is the videos aren`t leveled and they are for all levels which makes it boring for higher levels and difficult for lower ones. like ı know the verb comprendre but I have to wait till you conjugate it for lower levels. maybe you could do sth about it or just mark the video parts for levels so we can skip
Bonjour Géraldine, Au lieu de dire simplement "quoi?" on peut le "radoucir" un peu en ajoutant "donc". Quoi donc est couramment utilisé.
I alway hate when people talk to me abnormally slow in French just because I am anglophone. I usually tell them to speak normally.
Pourquoi il n’y a pas un liaison entre « pas » et « entendus »?
j'entends souvent "je m'excuse" et rarement "excuse-moi" -- i'm in canada. would that be a difference between french french and quebecois french?
Bonjour, Not sure this is a regional difference as both can be used. Merci.
"je m'excuse" should not be used, as one cannot excuses oneself. "excusez-moi" or "excuse-moi" is the proper phrase. But "je m'excuse" is widely used by mistake.
💛💛💛💛💛
Quelqu'un pourrait-il m'expliquer pourquoi les gens utilisent "Là" dans cette voie, par example "J'ai.. J'ai pas compris, Là" SVP
"là" is supposed to mean "there" or "over there" but in this context it's spoken french, and you can't really translate it literally. Usually it is used to emphasize the meaning of the phrase or a portion of it (2nd and 3rd phrases), but it can also mean "at the moment/right now" (like in the first sentence). I hope this helps.
Why you don't use liaison " between pas and entendu" when you speak?
En français, à l'oral, nous ne faisons pas toutes les liaisons. Par exemple entre amis ou entre proches, on peut se permettre d'être plus libre quand on parle. Les francophones qui font vraiment toutes les liaisons à l'oral donnent l'image d'une personne bien éduquée, cultivée. C'est une sorte de marqueur social. Greetings from France😉
Ok ok... There is at least 4 levels versionsand many sub levels - Being unable to understand the words due to : -- Speaking too fast : "Tu peux répéter ?" - or condescending "Articule s'il te plais", "pardon" (monotone) -- Stutter - "recommence calmement"... -- Ambiant sound "J'entend rien ! tu me la refais ?" usually with a hand signal of rolling hands in front of one's mouth and ears or "on s'entend pas pas ici"... - Understanding the words, but really unable to understand the meaning -- Using an awkward or obsolete sentence construct - "j'ai rien compris", "tu peux me le dire autrement ?" -- Using words that are only relevant to a locale - "Tu peux me le refaire en français ?".. "ça veut dire quoi ?" - Understanding the words and the meaning but truly unsure whether the intent of the sentence fit the message -- Ironic, humorous - or is it ? : (blank stare usually works), or "euh.. c'est du lard ou du cochon" ? -- truly unsure : "J'ai pas compris ce que tu veux me dire la" - understanding the words and the meaning but giving the other a party a chance to confirm (usually confrontational) -- Veiled threat, menacing, inuendo.. "Pardon ?" (short, with a low to high pitch) -- Clear threat or ultimatum : "Tu es sur ? tu peux me répéter ça ?" or "j'ai bien entendu ?" (going back to case 1.. pretending) - basically the last stand before direct confrontation - giving the opposing party a last chance to retract or re-evaluate before an all out war !
Je sais ce que je fais. Je vous dites la vérité. Je ne suis pas mentour. Vous êtes une très bon enseignante.
Si je vous ai bien compris, vous êtes en train de dire, «à la prochaine fois».
quand tu dit "pas entendu" you do not use a liaison? Sorry, I switch between languages.
In the Form" j'ai pas Entendu", we never use a liaison between "Pas" and "Entendu". But with the form " je n'ai pas entendu", wich is more formal, we use a liaison or not. Hoping to be clear, I'm not fluent in English😉😃
BONJOUR ITS MICHAEL JACKSON
😳
Désolé, mais en ce moment ma tête n'est pas aussi rapide que ta langue :P