Using on as an equivalent to “you” in English
In Chapter 3 we saw that the personal pronoun onis usually equivalent to nous.In the dia- logue onis used as an equivalent to youin English:
On habitait dans la maison blanche qu’onvoit là-bas.
The first onis equivalent to nousand is translated as we.However, the second one is equiva- lent to you(“that youcan see over there”).
Read the letter that Julian wrote to his Canadian friend, Carole Lauzière.
Lisez la lettre que Julian a envoyée à son amie canadienne, Carole Lauzière.
A Letter to Carole Paris, le 3 mai 2002 Chère Carole,
ầa va ? Moi, ỗa va bien. Je suis content parce que j’ai visitộ la Normandie la semaine dernière avec mon amie Lucie.
Quand nous sommes arrivés, il faisait mauvais mais le lendemain il a commencé à faire beau. Lucie m’a montré le village ó elle habitait et tous les endroits ó elle allait dans son enfance. On a visité aussi la maison du peintre Monet à Giverny et on a vu les falaises d’Étretat.
Bon, Carole, je voulais juste te saluer et t’inviter à venir me voir ici en France.
Bises, Julian
Paris, May 3, 2002 Dear Carole,
How are you? I am fine. I’m very happy because I went to Normandie last week with my friend Lucie.
When we arrived there, the weather was bad, but the following day it started getting better. Lucie showed me the village where she used to live and all the places where she used to go during her childhood. We also visited the house of the painter Monet in Giverny and we saw the cliffs of Étretat.
Well, Carole, I just wanted to say hi and invite you to come visit me here in France.
Kisses, Julian
Useful vocabulary
cher/chère* shèr dear (m./f.)
content(e) kõtã/kõtãt happy, pleased
quand kã when
Il fait mauvais. il fè movè The weather is bad.
Il fait beau. il fè bo The weather is lovely.
le village le vilazh town, village
un endroit ˜eãdrwa a place
ó u where
pendant pãdã during
une enfance ün ãfãs childhood
un peintre ˜ep˜etr painter
une falaise ün falèz cliff
juste zhüst just, only
une bise ün biz a kiss
toujours tuzhur always
supermarché süpèrmarshé supermarket
le quartier le kartyé neighborhood
Time and place adverbs: quand, ó
In Chapter 3 the adverbs quandand ówere introduced as question words. In Julian’s letter we saw that when not used in questions, they keep the same meaning and they behave as time and place adverbs, respectively. This behavior is very similar to their English counterparts:
whenand where.
Quandnous sommes arrivés, il faisait mauvais. When we arrived, the weather was bad.
Lucie m’a montré le village óelle Lucie showed me the village where she habitait dans son enfance. used to live during her childhood.
New verbs
montrer mõtré to show
inviter ˜evité to invite
saluer salÿở to say hi
Note that these three verbs are regular.
* The adjective chermust agree in gender and number with the noun it precedes or follows.
Expressing past events with the passé composé and the imperfect
Here are two examples taken from the letter (and adapted for this explanation) where the passé composéand the imperfect are used. Observe that completed eventsare in the passé composé.
These events are set against either a descriptive backgroundor habitual actionin the past.
Quand nous sommes arrivés,il faisaitmauvais.
The action expressed by the verb arriver(to arrive) is completed because it is an event that happened only once and is finished. When the speaker uses a phrase like this one, nothing is being described. He is just stating that he/she completed an activity, in this case that he arrived. However, in the second phrase of the sentence he is indeed describing something (in this case the weather). With the imperfect tense, the speaker can describe a person, another animate being, the weather, a place, a situation, etc.
Lucie m’a montréle village et tous les endroits ó elle allaitpendant son enfance.
Once again, the action expressed by montrer(to show) is completed. Nevertheless, in the sec- ond part of the sentence, the speaker mentions a habitual action in the past (the places where she used to goduring her childhood).
Writing informal letters
Reread the letter that Julian wrote to Carole. It can be divided into the following parts:
● City and date
A comma must be placed after the name of the city. Remember that the date starts with article le(see Chapter 2 if you want to review dates).
● Greeting
You can use cher, chère, chers,or chèresdepending on the number and gender of the person whom you are writing.
● Asking about the other person and saying how you are
Just add a simple Comment ỗa va ?or any other familiar greeting.
● Body of the letter
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