BEGINNER2. LESSON #9. EN RETARD
- Bonjour, Docteur.- Oui, bonjour.
- Vous n’avez pas l’air en forme. Vous avez mal dormi ?
- Non, je n’ai pas mal dormi mais ce matin je suis arrivé en retard, à 9h45.
- Vous n’êtes jamais en retard, d’habitude.
- Mais là, je me suis trompé de sortie sur le périphérique et je suis arrivé dans un quartier que je ne connais pas.
- Vous avez la tête ailleurs ?
- Pour la première fois, travailler un dimanche m’ennuie vraiment.
TRANSLATION
- Hello, Doctor.
- Yes, yes. Hello.
- You don’t seem in good shape. Did you have trouble sleeping ?
- No, I didn’t but this morning I got here late, at 9:45.
- You’re never late, usually.
- But today, I missed my exit on the beltway and I ended up in an unknown neighbourhood.
- Maybe something distracts you ?
- For the first time, working on a Sunday really upsets me.
- Hello, Doctor.
- Yes, yes. Hello.
- You don’t seem in good shape. Did you have trouble sleeping ?
- No, I didn’t but this morning I got here late, at 9:45.
- You’re never late, usually.
- But today, I missed my exit on the beltway and I ended up in an unknown neighbourhood.
- Maybe something distracts you ?
- For the first time, working on a Sunday really upsets me.
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The translation, here, cannot be made litteraly. Litteraly Vous avez mal dormi would be Did you sleep bad ? Vous avez la tête ailleurs would be You have your head elsewhere which make no sense. So we have to adapt the translation. |
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Avoir l’air : to seem. Forme (fém.) : shape. En forme : in good shape, healthy. Dormir : sleep. En retard : late. D’habitude : usually. Sortie (fém.) : exit. Périphérique (masc.) : ring road, ring, beltway. Quartier (masc.) : area, district, neighbourhood, borough. Ennuyer (déranger, fâcher) : to upset |
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In French we have two ways to read 9:45. 1. We can say neuf heures quarante-cinq : we simply read it and replace the sign h (equivalent to : ) by the word heures. 2. We can also say dix heures moins le quart (which is the expression corresponding to "a quarter to ten".) Telling time in French is not that difficult. We just say the number of the hour, the word "hour" then the minutes. Just remember that we can say et quart for a quarter past the hour, et demie for half past the hour then moins le quart for a quarter to the hour. Here we meet for the fist time a passé composé with auxiliary être.
Je suis arrivé, je me suis trompé.
Most of the verb use avoir in the passé composé but some of them, especially pronominal verbs (with se - that means oneself) and verb that indicate a moving or a transformation use être. |
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Translate in French : 1. Did you had trouble sleeping ? 2. For the first time in history. 3. I got here at 10:45. Translate in English : 1. Tu n’as pas l’air en forme. 2. Travailler le dimanche m’ennuie. 3. J’ai bien dormi. What do you understand ? Answers |
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