INTERMEDIATE. LESSON #44. LES INVITÉS2
- Voilà. Pile cent personnes.- Euh… Chéri ?
- Oui.
- Il y a beaucoup d’amis sur cette liste, je suis contente et ta nombreuse famille tient. C’est vrai qu’ils sont nombreux ! Mais qu’en est-il de ma famille ?
- Aïe. Oui. D’accord, je vois où est le problème… (hésitation) et oui…
- Ben…
- Nan mais… on va trouver… on va trouver… je vire lui, lui et lui. Non, pas lui, il est riche.
- Oh… Jean !
- Ah, ça va, je plaisante. Mais en passant, c’est bien joli tout ça mais même en enlevant les oncles un peu lointains, ça ne nous libère pas assez de place pour ta famille.
- Alors quoi ? On change de salle ?
- On change de famille.
- On n’invite que les amis.
- Grande idée. Et la famille proche.
- Faut bien…
TRANSLATION
- Here we are. A hundred persons exactly.
- Er… Darling ?
- Yes.
- There are a lot of friends on this list, that makes me happy, and your large family fits. It’s right they’re numerous ! But… what about my family ?
- Ouch. Yes. All right, I can see where the problem is… (hesitation) and yes…
- Well…
- Nope … but we’ll find a way… we’ll find a way… I get rid of him, him and him. No, not him, he’s rich.
- Oh… Jean !
- Oh, come on, it’s a joke. By the way, this is fine but even if we remove distant uncles, we still don’t have enough room for your family.
- So what ? Are we changing the hall ?
- We’re changing family.
- We only invite our friends.
- That’s a great idea. And close relatives too.
- We have to…
- Here we are. A hundred persons exactly.
- Er… Darling ?
- Yes.
- There are a lot of friends on this list, that makes me happy, and your large family fits. It’s right they’re numerous ! But… what about my family ?
- Ouch. Yes. All right, I can see where the problem is… (hesitation) and yes…
- Well…
- Nope … but we’ll find a way… we’ll find a way… I get rid of him, him and him. No, not him, he’s rich.
- Oh… Jean !
- Oh, come on, it’s a joke. By the way, this is fine but even if we remove distant uncles, we still don’t have enough room for your family.
- So what ? Are we changing the hall ?
- We’re changing family.
- We only invite our friends.
- That’s a great idea. And close relatives too.
- We have to…
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Qu’en est-il ? means what about ?. It’s quite a formal way to ask a question.
It’s used with the preposition de.
Qu’en est-il de ma famille ? Qu’en est-il des amis ?
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Plaisanter : to joke. Enlever : to remove. Lointain, lointaine : distant. Libérer : to liberate, to free, to clear. Proche : close. |
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En passant is a present participle (a gerund form). In the literal sens, it means walking through, going through. But it’s aslo often used at the figurative sens. It’s a very common expression that means by the way. In this dialogue, we have a lot of interjections and oral expressions.
Aïe. Euh oui. Ben. Euh. Nan mais… Oh… c’est bien joli tout ça…
It’s difficult to translate them exactly and to find a real English equivalent. Most of them here express hesitation. If we have to propose a translation, let's go with : - Aïe : ouch. - Euh : er, uh. - Ben : well. - Nan mais : no but. (Nan is a colloquial way to say non). - Oh : oh, o-o. - C’est bien joli tout ça : this is fine but, this is sweet but. All these interjections are very common in French. French people use them a lot. They seem to hesitate much more than English speakers do. We, French people, speak even if we still don’t know what we’re going to say ! We speak and we think about what we’re saying aloud. |
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Translate in English : 1. En passant par Paris, j’ai visité le musée d’Orsay. 2. En passant, je te rappelle que tu es malade. 3. Aïe, je me suis fait mal. 4. Oh, je me suis encore trompée. Translate in French : 1. This is very fine but you still lost your money. 2. And what about your uncle ? Will he come ? 3. Ur, I don’t know. 4. Well, I was joking. Se faire mal : to hurt one self. Se tromper : to make a mistake, to be mistaken. Answers |
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