Improve your ear for French with this clip from the Balades podcast. It’s 41 words in 14 seconds. How many can you hear and understand?
This clip is from Balades Episode 1. Listen and fill in what you hear below. Read more and find a translation below. Find the full podcast episode here.
Why this snippet?
I continue to love these snippets because of Isabelle’s pacing and subject matter – at least in this introduction. Here she’s diving into her past in France and her experiences with her family.
Unlike the last snippet, this isn’t exactly something someone with a couple weeks of French should be able to say. However, there are keywords that you should know here.
This snippet begins to explore different tenses. My French mastery is far from anything with tenses – I still live in the present tense, and maybe that’s the case for all my languages at this time.
That may or may not be the case for you, use this snippet to challenge your listening skills and see if you can pick up the past tense. Every language has keywords that will tell you which tense we’re in, and French is no different.
How much of this snippet are you understanding?
Can you only hear the articles or are you catching keywords?
There’s absolutely no way that I could get through an entire podcast in French without melting my brain, that’s why I broke it up into snippets like this. Join me for the next snippet.
The snippet in English
Find a translation of this snippet here, how much of this did you hear?
Jusqu’à l’âge de 20 ans, je passais presque toutes mes vacances dans la région parisienne et dans le sud de la France. J’allais voir mes grands-parents et les frères et sœurs de ma mère. Ensemble, nous visitions les belles régions françaises.
Until the age of 20, I spent almost all my vacations in the Paris region and in the south of France. I was going to see my grandparents and my mother’s siblings. Together, we visited the beautiful French regions.
The above text courtesy of Google Translate. Source.
What does “jusqu’a” mean in French?
“Jusqu’à” is a French word that means “until” or “up to” in English. It is used to indicate a time, a limit or a point in space or time until which a certain situation or action will continue or be valid.
Examples:
“Je travaillerai jusqu’à ce que j’aie fini ce projet” (I will work until I finish this project)
“Il faut marcher jusqu’à la fin de la rue” (You have to walk until the end of the street)
“Nous resterons ici jusqu’à ce que vous arriviez” (We will stay here until you arrive)
It can also be used in a more figurative sense to indicate a point in time or a limit beyond which something will not happen or will not be possible:
“Il était mon ami jusqu’à ce qu’il me trahisse” (He was my friend until he betrayed me)
“Je l’aimerai jusqu’à la fin de mes jours” (I will love him until the end of my days)
“Jusqu’à présent, tout va bien” (So far, everything is going well)
Did I miss something?
Did you find a mistake or something that’s not right…
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