BEGINNER1. LESSON #15. AU ZOO

Au zoo :
- J’adore le zoo, Grand-mère.
- Je sais. Ton grand-père aussi.
- J’aime le lion, j’aime la girafe.
- Oh ! Regarde les éléphants. Ils sont gros.
- Oui. Et regarde le singe. Il est drôle.
- Et voici la panthère noire.
- Et voici le marchand de glaces !
SLOW DIALOGUE

TRANSLATION
At the zoo :
- I love the zoo, Grand-ma.
- I know. Your grand-pa, too.
- I like the lion, I like the giraffe.
- Oh ! Look at the elephants. They’re big.
- Yes. And look at the monkey. He’s funny.
- And here’s the black panther.
- And here’s the ice-cream truck.
Adorer means to love but it is stronger. Etymologically speaking, it means worship and it’s used for God for example. But we use it a lot in French to say that we are really fond of something or that we love something or someone very very much.

There are a lot of new words in this lesson because we are at the zoo to discover some animals. But you’ll see these words are quite easy to learn because they’re almost identical in French and in English.
Adorer : to adore, to worship, to love
Zoo (masc.): zoo
Grand-père : grand-father, grand-pa.
Lion (masc.) : lion.
Girafe (fém.) : giraffe.
Regarder : to look.
Éléphant (masc.) : elephant.
Gros : big.
Singe (masc.) : monkey, ape.
Drôle : funny.
Panthère (fém.): panther.
Noir, noire : black.
Marchand (masc.) : seller.
Glace (fém.): ice cream.
In French, the definite article (English the) may have different forms :

1. With a masculine and singular noun, we’ll use : le.
Le lion, le singe, le marchand de glace

2. With a feminine and singular noun, we’ll use : la.
la girafe, la panthère

Attention !
If the noun following the determinant begins with a voyel or an unpronounced h, we won’t use le or la anymore but l’ instead.
l’éléphant, l’école, l’enfant

3. With a plural noun, we’ll always use : les
les éléphants, les poupées
In Paris, the jardin des Plantes (5th arr.) is a famous zoo or ménagerie. It’s certainly not the biggest one in France, but it’s one of the oldest (1794).
Translate in French :
1. The giraffe is yellow.
2. I take the car.
3. The truck is red.
4. The kid is happy.
5. We like the black monkey.

Translate in English :
1. Mon grand-père aime les girafes.
2. L’éléphant est drôle.
3. Les singes sont bêtes.


What about you ? What's your favorite animal ? (Begin your answer by J'aime…
Et vous ? Quel est votre animal préféré ?
FrenchByFrench.com © 2010–