Unlocking French with Paul Noble: Your key to language success with the bestselling language coach. Paul Noble

       (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