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CHAPTER 2

I booked a table, ordered dinner and then paid the bill. What did you do?

I booked a table, ordered dinner and then paid the bill. What did you do?

The first chapter has shown you that you can learn how to create full and complex sentences in French with relative ease. It also began to show you how to convert huge numbers of English words into French and then start using them straight away.

We will be doing more of both here, which will allow you to make enormous strides with your French in an incredibly short space of time.

Let’s begin by carrying out a second Word Robbery…

Time to steal some words!

Word Robbery Number 2

The second group of words we are going to steal are words that end in “ion” in English.

Words such as:

accusation reservation decoration invitation confirmation cooperation imagination irritation manipulation perfection domination creation innovation inspiration donation association concentration anticipation information exploration occupation

There are around 1250 of these in English and we can begin using these in French right now.

Adding them to the words we’ve already stolen so far, we have now reached a total of 2000 words stolen – and we’re only on Chapter 2!

Words stolen so far 2000

We’ve now carried out our second Word Robbery and have gained more than a thousand words ending in “ion”, and it only took us thirty seconds to “learn” them.

If you look at the examples above, you’ll notice that most, though not all, of these “ion” words actually end in “ation”.

When they do, they become even more useful because you can then use them to make the past tense in French.

Let me show you how.

Let’s take “réservation” as an example.

The first thing you’re going to do with “réservation” is to cut off the “ation” at the end. Do this now and tell me, what are you left with?

réserv

(ray-zurv)

Good. Now, onto the end of this, I want you to add the “é” that you find on the end of the word “café”. So again, I simply want you to take “réserv” and add an “é” onto the end of it.

What word does that give you?

réservé

(ray-zurv-ay)

This means “reserved”. (And notice, from the pronunciation guide underneath “réservé”, that “é” is always pronounced “ay” in French).

Let’s try doing this again, this time with the word “invitation”. Once more, cut off the “ation” from the end of the word and replace it with the “é” you find at the end of the word “café”.

Doing this, what do you get?

invité

(earn-vit-ay)

This means “invited”.

Let’s try this one more time, as the more practice you get, the easier it will become.

Take the word “préparation” as the starting point this time. Again, cut off the “ation” from the end and add an “é” in its place.

What does that give you?

préparé

(pray-par-ay)

This means “prepared”.

Now again, what was “I have” in French?

J’ai

(zhay)

So, how would you say “I have prepared”?

J’ai préparé

(zhay pray-par-ay)

And “I prepared”?

J’ai préparé

(zhay pray-par-ay)

And “I did prepare”?

J’ai préparé

(zhay pray-par-ay)

(Once again, just in case you’d forgotten, you get three English past tenses for the price of one in French!)

“The dinner” in French is:

le dîner

(luh din-ay)

How would you say “I have prepared the dinner”, “I prepared the dinner”, “I did prepare the dinner”?

J’ai préparé le dîner.

(zhay pray-par-ay luh din-ay)

Alright, let’s return again to our 1200 “ation” words for a moment.

Once more, what was “reservation” in French?

réservation

(ray-zurv-ass-yon)

As before, let’s cut the “ation” off the end of “réservation” and replace it with the “é” from “café” to create the word that means “reserved” in French.

If you do that, what is “reserved”?

réservé

(ray-zurv-ay)

And this actually means both “reserved” and “booked”. So, how would you say, “I have reserved” / “I have booked”?

J’ai réservé

(zhay ray-zurv-ay)

“A table” in French is

une table

(oon tarb-luh)

Right, how would you say “I have reserved a table” / “I have booked a table”?

J’ai réservé une table.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh)

“For you” in French is:

pour vous (poor voo)

How would you say “I have reserved a table for you” / “I have booked a table for you”?

J’ai réservé une table pour vous.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh poor voo)

And again, what was “the dinner” in French?

le dîner

(luh din-ay)

And what was “for you”?

pour vous

(poor voo)

So, if “pour vous” means “for you”, what do you think is the word for “for” in French?

pour

(poor)

Now, to say “for dinner” in French, you will literally say “for the dinner”. How do you think you would say that?

pour le dîner

(poor luh din-ay)

Alright, how would you say “I have reserved a table for dinner” / “I have booked a table for dinner”?

J’ai réservé une table pour le dîner.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh poor luh din-ay)

As you can see, these “ation” words really are very useful. Not only do you get more than a thousand words right away – like “réservation”, “préparation”, “information” and so on – for free but these “ation” words also give you access to the past tense in French, allowing you to create many, many new words such as “reserved”, “prepared”, “informed” and so on. And you can achieve this simply by cutting off the “ation” from the end of the word and and adding an “é” in its place.

Actually there are many other English words you can make into the past tense in French simply by adding the “é” from “café” onto the end of them – and for these you don’t even need to cut anything off first!

For example, take the English word “command” and add an “é” onto the end of it. Do that now – what do you get?

commandé

(comm-on-day)

This means “commanded”.

Well actually, it doesn’t only mean “commanded”, it also means “ordered”. This makes sense really, if you think about it – after all, an order and a command are more or less the same thing, aren’t they?

Now that you know that “commandé” means both “commanded” and “ordered”, how would you say “I have ordered”, “I ordered”, “I did order”?

J’ai commandé

(zhay comm-on-day)

And how would you say “I ordered dinner” (you will say literally “I have ordered the dinner”)?

J’ai commandé le dîner.

(zhay comm-on-day luh din-ay)

“The roast beef” in French is:

le rosbif

(luh ros-beef)

So how would you say “I ordered roast beef” (again, you will literally say “I have ordered the roast beef”)?

J’ai commandé le rosbif.

(zhay comm-on-day luh ros-beef)

And once again, how would you say “for dinner” (literally “for the dinner”) in French?

pour le dîner

(poor luh din-ay)

Now put these two things together and say “I ordered roast beef for dinner” (literally “I have ordered the roast beef for the dinner”)?

J’ai commandé le rosbif pour le dîner.

(zhay comm-on-day luh ros-beef poor luh din-ay)

And how would you say “I ordered the roast beef for you”?

J’ai commandé le rosbif pour vous.

(zhay comm-on-day luh ros-beef poor voo)

Good, now can you recall how to say “I visited”?

J’ai visité

(zhay visit-ay)

How about “I spent”?

J’ai passé

(zhay pass-ay)

“I reserved” / “I booked”?

J’ai réservé

(zhay ray-zurv-ay)

“I prepared”?

J’ai préparé

(zhay pray-par-ay)

“I ordered”?

J’ai commandé

(zhay comm-on-day)

To say “paid” in French, you can simply take the English word “pay” and once again add an “é” onto the end of it.

Do that now – what do you get?

payé

(pay-ay)

So, how would you say “I paid”?

J’ai payé

(zhay pay-ay)

Do you remember what “we have” is from our Building Blocks section in Chapter 1?

If not, don’t worry, it’s:

Nous avons

(noo za-von)

With this in mind, how would you say “we have paid”, “we paid”, “we did pay”?

Nous avons payé

(noo za-von pay-ay)

And do you remember what “you have” is in French?

Vous avez

(voo za-vay)

How would you say “you have paid”?

Vous avez payé

(voo za-vay pay-ay)

“The bill” in French is literally “the addition”, which in French is:

l’addition

(la-dis-yon)

So, how would you say “you have paid the bill”?

Vous avez payé l’addition

(voo za-vay pay-ay la-dis-yon)

How about “we have paid the bill”?

Nous avons payé l’addition.

(noo za-von pay-ay la-dis-yon)

And “I have paid the bill”?

J’ai payé l’addition.

(zhay pay-ay la-dis-yon)

Again, how would you say “I booked a table”?

J’ai réservé une table.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh)

What about “I ordered the dinner”?

J’ai commandé le dîner.

(zhay comm-on-day luh din-ay)

And how about “I paid the bill”?

J’ai payé l’addition.

(zhay pay-ay la-dis-yon)

Let’s now try making a list out of these things. Start by saying “I booked a table, ordered the dinner, paid the bill.” Take your time working it out in your head, bit by bit – there really is no rush. So again – “I booked a table, ordered the dinner, paid the bill”:

J’ai réservé une table, commandé le dîner, payé l’addition.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh, comm-on-day luh din-ay, pay-ay la-dis-yon)

Let’s add “then” into this sentence to make it sound more natural. “Then” in French is:

puis

(pwee)

First try simply saying “then paid the bill”. How would you say that?

puis payé l’addition

(pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon)

And what was “and” in French?

et

(ay)

Right, now say “and then paid the bill”.

et puis payé l’addition

(ay pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon)

Okay. Let’s try to put this all together and say “I booked a table, ordered the dinner and then paid the bill.”

J’ai réservé une table, commandé le dîner et puis payé l’addition.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh, comm-on-day luh din-ay ay pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon)

Not a bad sentence. Let’s make it bigger still.

What is “you have” in French?

Vous avez

(voo za-vay)

And what is “prepared”?

préparé

(pray-par-ay)

So, how would you say “you have prepared”?

Vous avez préparé

(voo za-vay pray-par-ay)

If you want to say “what have you prepared?” in French, one very typical way to express this is to literally say “what is it that you have prepared?”

This sounds a bit complex and formal in English, but in French, “what is it that” is a phrase that is used all the time in everyday language and it’s very simple to pronounce (though it doesn’t necessarily look it!).

“What is it that” in French is:

Qu’est-ce que

(kess-kuh)

Again, how would you say “you have prepared” in French?

Vous avez préparé

(voo za-vay pray-par-ay)

And how would you say “what is it that”?

Qu’est-ce que

(kess-kuh)

To say “what have you prepared?”, you can simply say “what is it that you have prepared?” Let’s do that now. Again, what is “what is it that?”

Qu’est-ce que

(kess-kuh)

And what is “you have prepared”?

Vous avez préparé

(voo za-vay pray-par-ay)

So, how would you say “what is it that you have prepared?”?

Qu’est-ce que vous avez préparé?

(kess-kuh voo za-vay pray-par-ay)

Literally this means “what is it that you have prepared?”, but it means not only “what have you prepared?”, it also means “what did you prepare?” Just as before, even though it’s a question, you still get more than one English past tense for the price of one in French.

Just to make sure you’ve understood this 100%, how would you say “What have you prepared?”?

Qu’est-ce que vous avez préparé?

(kess-kuh voo za-vay pray-par-ay)

And “what did you prepare”?

Qu’est-ce que vous avez préparé?

(kess-kuh voo za-vay pray-par-ay)

That’s right, they’re the same!

And how do you think you would say “what have you reserved?” / “what did you reserve?” (literally “what is it that you have reserved?”)?

Qu’est-ce que vous avez réservé?

(kess-kuh voo za-vay ray-zurv-ay)

The word for “done” in French is:

fait

(fay)

So, how would you say “what have you done?” / “what did you do?” (literally “what is it that you have done?”)?

Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait?

(kess-kuh voo za-vay fay)

And once more, how would you say “I reserved a table” / “I booked a table”?

J’ai réservé une table.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh)

And how would you say “I ordered the dinner”?

J’ai commandé le dîner.

(zhay comm-on-day luh din-ay)

And remind me, what was the word for “then” in French?

puis

(pwee)

And the word for “and”?

et

(ay)

Now say, “and then paid the bill”.

et puis payé l’addition

(ay pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon)

Let’s put those bits together again and say “I booked a table, ordered the dinner and then paid the bill.”

J’ai réservé une table, commandé le dîner et puis payé l’addition.

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh, comm-on-day luh din-ay ay pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon)

And let’s add the final bit onto it all. Again, how would you say “what is it that”?

Qu’est-ce que

(kess-kuh)

Plus, as I mentioned earlier, “you have done” in French is:

vous avez fait

(voo za-vay fay)

So, how would you say “what have you done?” / “what did you do?” (literally “what is it that you have done?”)?

Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait?

(kess-kuh voo za-vay fay)

Let’s combine absolutely everything together now and (taking your time to think it out) say “I booked a table, ordered dinner and then paid the bill. What did you do?”

J’ai réservé une table, commandé le dîner et puis payé l’addition. Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait?

(zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh, comm-on-day luh din-ay, ay pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon. kess-kuh voo za-vay fay)

How did you find that final, complex sentence? Try it a few more times, even if you’ve got it right, until you feel comfortable constructing it. Every time you practise building these long sentences, the naturalness and fluidity of your spoken French will improve and your confidence in speaking will get better along with it.

Building Blocks 2

It’s time to add some new building blocks to the mix. As before, it will be just six new ones. Here they are:

* literally “a chamber”.

Once more, these new building blocks have been put into four piles. As previously, what I want you to do is to make sentences with them, each time using one building block from the first pile, one from the second, one from the third and one from the fourth. Make as many sentences as you can!

* literally “a chamber”.

Checklist 2

You have now reached your second checklist. Remember, don’t skip anything! The checklists are essential if you want what you’ve learnt to remain in your memory for the long term.

So again, cover up the English words on the right-hand side while you read through the list of French words on the left, trying to recall what they mean in English. If you can go through the entire list, giving the correct English meaning for each of the French words / expressions without making more than three mistakes in total, then you’re done. If not, then go through the list again. Keep doing this, either working from the top of the list to the bottom or from the bottom to the top (it doesn’t matter which) until you can do it without making more than three mistakes.

Okay. Ready, set, go!

le week-end (luh weekend)	the weekend
démocratique2 (day-moe-kra-teek)	democratic
économique (ay-kon-oh-meek)	economic
psychologique (psee-ko-lozh-eek)	psychological
identique (ee-don-teek)	identical
J’ai (zhay)	I have
visité (visit-ay)	visited
J’ai visité (zhay visit-ay)	I have visited / I visited / I did visit
Paris (pa-ree)	Paris
Notre-Dame (not-re darm)	Notre-Dame
J’ai visité Notre-Dame. (zhay visit-ay not-re darm)	I have visited Notre-Dame / I visited Notre-Dame / I did visit Notre-Dame.
passé (pass-ay)	spent
J’ai passé (zhay pass-ay)	I have spent / I spent / I did spend
Vous avez (voo za-vay)	You have
Vous avez passé (voo za-vay pass-ay)	You have spent / You spent / You did spend
Nous avons (noo za-von)	We have
Nous avons passé (noo za-von pass-ay)	We have spent / We spent / We did spend
septembre (sep-tom-bruh)	September
Noël (no-ell)	Christmas
à Paris (a pa-ree)	in Paris
en France (on fronce)	in France
en Suisse (on swees)	in Switzerland
Nous avons passé Noël en Suisse. (noo za-von pass-ay no-ell on swees)	We have spent Christmas in Switzerland / We spent Christmas in Switzerland / We did spend Christmas in Switzerland.
Vous avez passé septembre en France. (voo za-vay pass-ay sep-tom-bruh on fronce)	You have spent September in France / You spent September in France / You did spend September in France.
et (ay)	and
c’était (set-ay)	it was
C’était fantastique. (set-ay fon-tass-teek)	It was fantastic.
très agréable (trez ag-ray-arb-luh)	lovely / very agreeable
C’était très agréable. (set-ay trez ag-ray-arb-luh)	It was lovely. / It was very agreeable.
J’ai passé le week-end à Paris… et c’était très agréable. (zhay pass-ay luh weekend a pa-ree… ay set-ay trez ag-ray-arb-luh)	I spent the weekend in Paris… and it was lovely.
invitation (earn-vit-ass-yon)	invitation
invité (earn-vit-ay)	invited
préparation (pray-par-ass-yon)	preparation
préparé (pray-par-ay)	prepared
réservation (ray-zurv-ass-yon)	reservation
réservé (ray-zurv-ay)	reserved / booked
commandé (comm-on-day)	ordered
payé (pay-ay)	paid
fait (fay)	done
l’addition (la-dis-yon)	the bill
le dîner (luh din-ay)	the dinner
le rosbif (luh ros-beef)	the roast beef
une table (oon tarb-luh)	a table
une chambre (oon shom-bruh)	a room
un taxi (urn taxi)	a taxi
J’ai préparé le dîner. (zhay pray-par-ay luh din-ay)	I have prepared the dinner / I prepared the dinner / I did prepare the dinner.
J’ai commandé le rosbif pour le dîner. (zhay comm-on-day luh ros-beef poor luh din-ay)	I have ordered roast beef for dinner / I ordered roast beef for dinner / I did order roast beef for dinner.
J’ai réservé une table pour vous. (zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh poor voo)	I have booked a table for you / I booked a table for you / I did book a table for you.
Elle a (ell a)	She has
Elle a réservé une table pour ce soir. (ell a ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh poor sir swar)	She has booked / reserved a table for this evening – She booked / reserved a table for this evening – She did book / reserve a table for this evening.
Il a (eel a)	He has
Il a réservé une chambre pour deux personnes. (eel a ray-zurv-ay oon shom-bruh poor duh purse-on)	He has booked / reserved a room for two people – He booked / reserved a room for two people – He did book / reserve a room for two people.
Nous avons réservé un taxi pour vous. (noo za-von ray-zur-vay urn taxi poor voo)	We have booked a taxi for you / We booked a taxi for you / We did book a taxi for you.
Nous avons payé l’addition. (noo za-von pay-ay la-dis-yon)	We paid the bill / We have paid the the bill / We did pay the bill.
Qu’est-ce que? (kess-kuh)	What? / What is it that?
Qu’est-ce que vous avez préparé? (kess-kuh voo za-vay pray-par-ay)	What have you prepared? / What did you prepare? (literally “What is it that you have prepared?”)
Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait? (kess-kuh voo za-vay fay)	What have you done? / What did you do? (literally “What is it that you have done?”)
J’ai réservé une table, commandé le dîner et puis payé l’addition. Qu’est-ce que vous avez fait? (zhay ray-zurv-ay oon tarb-luh, comm-on-day luh din-ay ay pwee pay-ay la-dis-yon. kess-kuh voo za-vay fay)	I booked a table, ordered dinner and then paid the bill. What did you do?

Now, do the same thing once again below, except that this time you’ll be reading through the list of English words and trying to recall the French. All you need to do is to be able to do one full read-through of them without making more than three mistakes in total and you’re done!

the weekend	le week-end (luh weekend)
democratic	démocratique (day-moe-kra-teek)
economic	économique (ay-kon-oh-meek)
psychological	psychologique (psee-ko-lozh-eek)
identical	identique (ee-don-teek)
I have	J’ai (zhay)
visited	visité (visit-ay)
I have visited / I visited / I did visit	J’ai visité (zhay visit-ay)
Paris	Paris (pa-ree)
Notre-Dame	Notre-Dame (not-re darm)
I have visited Notre-Dame / I visited Notre-Dame / I did visit Notre-Dame.	J’ai visité Notre-Dame. (zhay visit-ay not-re darm)
spent	passé (pass-ay)
I have spent / I spent / I did spend	J’ai passé (zhay pass-ay)
You have	Vous avez (voo za-vay)
You have spent / You spent / You did spend	Vous avez passé (voo za-vay pass-ay)
We have	Nous avons (noo za-von)
We have spent / We spent / We did spend	Nous avons passé (noo za-von pass-ay)
September	septembre (sep-tom-bruh)
Christmas	Noël (no-ell)
in Paris