Lesson 28

Dialogue

Boris Petroff est arrivé à Paris sur l’invitation de ses partenaires français Michel Sandeau et Antoine Sabatier qui avaient visité Moscou il y a un mois. Les collègues ont discuté des perspectives de travail en commun et ont décidé de prolonger l’accord de coopération. A la fin de sa mission B. Petroff s’est rendu compte qu’il n’avait rien vu à Paris parce qu’il avait un peu de temps libre. Il a dit à ses collègues qu’il irait au Stade de France pour voir un match de football.

Vocabulary

Exercise 1. Read and translate the dialogue. Determine if the following statements fit its content. Check C’est vrai if it’s true or don’t check if it’s not C’est faux:

Exercise 2. Listen to the recording of the dialogue several times. Fill in the blanks in the sentences by recalling what you have heard:

1. Boris Petroff est arrivé à Paris sur l’invitation de ses partenaires français Michel Sandeau et Antoine Sabatier qui Moscou il y a un mois.
2. Les collègues ont discuté des perspectives de travail en commun et ont décidé de prolonger .
3. A la fin de sa mission B. Petroff s’est rendu compte qu’il n’ rien à Paris parce qu’il avait un peu de temps libre.
4. Il a dit à ses collègues qu’il au stade de France pour voir un match de football.
5. Je n’ai pas été au stade de France longtemps. Je trouve que c’est une excellente idée et je vais vous accompagner avec plaisir.
6. A vrai dire, je ne suis pas mordu de football, mais je m’, comme beaucoup de Français.
7. Ce jour-là l’équipe de France la Coupe du monde et championne du monde.
8. Toutes les rues de Paris et les principales villes de France pleines de gens qui de joie, et .
9. J’ai vu que les gens n’ pas de toute la nuit. On penser que tous les Français de vrais fans. J’ai compris que ce match un évènement national.

10. Après cette victoire le nombre des activités sportives en France . Actuellement un Français sur cinq peut être considéré comme un .
11. Les gens pensent que une meilleure va les aider à supporter les agressions de la vie moderne.
12. Tous ces facteurs dans leur ensemble le développement des équipements sportifs : piscines, courts de tennis, terrains en plein air.
13. Les femmes n’aiment pas les sports comme le volley-ball et le basket-ball, elles préfèrent les sports  : le tennis, la marche etc.
14. Des sports nouveaux comme le golf, le canoë kayak, le vol libre ont de plus en plus d’ parmi les jeunes.
15. Comme le cinéma, la bicyclette est une française, et pendant les fins de semaine on peut voir beaucoup de gens qui pour retrouver ou maintenir leur forme physique.
16. Il faut dire, que les Français cherchent moins à faire des performances qu’. En un mot on peur dire, que le prend le pas sur le .
17. Les traumatismes, les crises cardiaques, le stress — ce sont des risques que peuvent présenter certains sports pour les personnes . Le jogging et l’aérobic en sont .
18. Si vous n’avez pas changé d’idée, il faut vite terminer pour être libre demain soir.

Grammar

Plus-que-parfait (Past Perfect)

In order to indicate an action in the past that happened before another action in the past, French has a specila tense, very similar to the English past perfect tense, it is called le plus-que-parfait or the pluperfect. For example:

The past perfect tense can also refer to an action in the past separated from the moment of speech by a long period of time, e.g.:

The French past perfect tense is formed according to the following model: a personal form of the verb avoir or être in the imperfect past tense + past participle of the main verb, for example:

Remember that the same verbs that form the compound past tense with avoir are conjugated with avoir in the past perfect tense. Likewise, if a verb in the compound past tense is conjugated with être, it should also be conjugated with être in the past perfect tense. Recall which verbs are conjugated with avoir and which with être by looking at lesson 25, lesson 26.

The interrogative and negative forms of the past perfect tense are formed in much the same way as the past compound verbs. The only difference is that the auxiliary verb (avoir or être) is used in the imperfect past tense. For example:

Futur dans le passé (Future in the past)

The tense called le futur dans le passé — the future in the past — denotes an action that is future in relation to another action in the past, for example:

The future in the past of verbs of all conjugations is formed by adding the endings of the imperfect past to the infinitive form of the verb, e.g.:

Exercise 3. Write out the sentences from the dialogue that contain verbs in such tenses as the past perfect and the future in the past.

Sequence of Tenses

Sequence of tenses in French means the same as in English: if the predicate of the main clause is expressed by a verb in one of the past tenses, then the verb of the subordinate clause must also be used in one of the past tenses. The following rules are observed:

1. If the action expressed by the predicate verb in the subordinate clause is simultaneous with the action expressed by the verb in the main clause, then the imperfect past tense is used in the subordinate clause, e.g.:

main clause	subordinate clause
I knew	that Paul was helping us.
J’ai su	que Paul nous	aidait.
↓		↓
compound past tense		imperfect past tense

2. If the action expressed by the predicate verb in the subordinate clause precedes the action expressed by the verb in the main clause, then the verb in the subordinate clause is used in the past perfect tense, for example:

I knew that Paul had helped us.
J’ai su	que Paul nous avait	aidé.
↓		↓
compound past tense		past perfect

3. If the action expressed by the predicate verb in the subordinate clause is future in relation to the action expressed by the predicate verb in the past tense of the main clause, then the verb in the subordinate clause is used in the future in the past form, e.g.:

I knew that Paul would help us.
J’ai su	que Paul nous	aiderait.
↓		↓
compound past tense		future in the past

If the verb in the main clause is in the present tense, in the subordinate clause, the simultaneity of actions is expressed by the present tense of the verb, the antecedence of actions by one of the past tenses, and the subsequence of actions by the future simple tense. For example:

I know that Paul is helping us.
Je sais	que Paul nous	aide.
↓		↓
present		present

I know that Paul helped us.
Je sais	que Paul nous a	aidé.
↓		↓
present tense		compound past tense

I know that Paul will help us.
Je sais	que Paul nous	aidera.
↓		↓
present tense		future simple tense

Exercise 4. Change the sentences paying attention to the simultaneity of actions in the sequence of tenses.

Exercise 5. Change the sentences paying attention to the the expression of antecedence of actions in the sequence of tenses.

Exercise 6. Change the sentences paying attention to the the expression of subsequence of actions in the sequence of tenses.

Exercise 7. Let’s see how well you have learned the vocabulary and grammar of this lesson. Translate:

1. Boris Petroff arrived in Paris at the invitation of Michel and Antoine who had visited Moscow a week ago.
   
2. The colleagues extended the cooperation agreement and discussed the perspectives of work.
   
3. Boris understood that he had not seen anything in Paris.
   
4. The colleagues decided to go to the stadium to see a football match.
   
5. Antoine is not a football fan, but he is interested in it, like many French people.
   
6. On July 12, 1998, the French team became world champions.
   

7. People were in the streets, laughing and shouting. (lit.: they were laughing, they were shouting.)
   
8. Boris understood that this match would become a national event.
   
9. After this victory, sports activities increased.
   
10. Advertising also played its role.
    
11. Women do not like team sports, they prefer individual sports: tennis, walking.
    
12. Cycling is the sport for all the ages.
    
13. On weekends, many French people cycle to keep their physical shape.
    

Let’s laugh and enrich our vocabulary

Text I. Le rhume

Vocabulary

Exercise 8. Read and translate Text I. Choose the statements that fit the text and write Certes (Certainly) or Vous vous trompez (You are mistaken):

Text II. Chez le dentiste

Vocabulary

Exercise 9. Read and translate Text II. Choose the statements that fit the text and write C’est ça ! (That’s it!) or Absolument pas ! (Absolutely not!):

Text III. Pas encore de résultat

Vocabulary

Exercise 10. Read and translate Text III. Choose the statements that fit the text and write C’est juste (It’s right) or C’est faux (It’s wrong):

Savez-vous compresser le texte ?

Can you compress the text?

Exercise 11. Read and translate the text. Identify the most important phrases. Based on them, reproduce in writing a brief summary of the text (one of the options is given in the key):

La santé et le sport

Vocabulary