Learn French with the podcast Balades ep 1. This clip is 38 words in 15 seconds, how many can you understand? Take our transcription quiz and try it today!
Learn French with a podcast snippet! 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 here.
The above audio sample and transcription is from Balades ep. 1. We do not own the content. Listen to the entire episode here.
He let it go
Let’s continue with the 27th clip from this episode of Balades.
I tried this on on advanced to see how well I could follow along. I don’t find this clip particularly challenging,b ut there are some words and expressions that throw me.
During this clip, I struggled with the phrase “devait nous suivre en laisse dans” and “Mais comme c’était un chien qui”. I’m not sure if these were spoken faster than I was ready for, or if some of the words: “comme c’était” and “suivre en laisse dans” just came up as blanks in my brain.
With each clip, I stumble over not seeing the letters that form the words, despite hearing her say it again and again. Once at a certain level, this won’t matter. But before I can get to that level, I need to be able to understand what I hear. And these blanks are not helping that comprehension! That calls for more practice, onto the next one!
How much of this snippet are you understanding?
Can you only hear the articles or are you catching keywords?
What’s your favorite part about this?
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?
Ou encore jouer à se promener avec le chien de mes grands-parents. Le pauvre Chicco, il devait nous suivre en laisse dans son propre jardin. Mais comme c’était un chien qui aimait les enfants, il se laissait faire.
Or even playing for a walk with my grandparents’ dog. Poor Chicco, he had to follow us on a leash into his own garden. But since he was a dog who loved children, he let it go.
The above text courtesy of Google Translate. Source
What does “il se laissait faire” mean?
It expresses that the person (“il”) is passive and allows something to happen without resistance. It can also imply that the person is not taking any initiative and is letting someone else take control of the situation.
For example:
- “Il se laissait faire par sa femme, il ne prenait jamais de décisions” which means “He let himself be done by his wife, he never made any decisions”
- “Il se laissait faire par ses amis, il suivait toujours leur avis” which means “He let himself be done by his friends, he always followed their advice”
It is important to note that the phrase can be used to describe a negative or a positive situation, it depends on the context. It can also be used to describe a behavior that somebody wants to change.
The phrase “Il se laissait faire” does not necessarily have a negative connotation, but it implies that the person is passive and not taking initiative. It can also imply a lack of resistance or opposition to something that is happening.
It is not used to describe a behavior that someone wants to change. It describes a state of being, rather than an action.
To clarify, the phrase “Il se laissait faire” can be translated to “He was letting himself be done”, “He was allowing himself to be done” or “He was going along with it” in English.
What words did I look up in this snippet?
Find keywords for this snippet below
jouer – playing
promener – walk
pauvre – poor as in money… also miserable
il devait – have, like “avoir”?
nous suivre – followed us
en laisse – on a leash
il se laissat faire – he let it go
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