Learn French with a podcast! This clip from Balades is 7 seconds long and has 19 words. Try our transcription quiz and test your French listening comprehension!
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.
Once
I did not know this expression for once. In fact, I don’t think I can name many expressions for once. I’m still muscling through the past tense and subjunctives and everything else. Again, this project isn’t to help me or your improve in grammar, merely to improve our ears for spoken French.
It’s “French in the wild” and nothing says that more than hearing expressions that are probably used on a daily basis, that might appear once or twice in a textbook. Who knows what those are, I’m just starting on this journey.
Once I get further along, I’m sure I’ll have all the answers. Or at least enough to look or sound, rather, like the expert.
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Can you only hear the articles or are you catching keywords?
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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?
Une fois que tout était bien propre, on remettait les nénuphars et commençait à remplir à nouveau le bassin.
Once everything was clean, we put the water lilies back and started to fill the basin again.
The above text courtesy of Google Translate. Source
What does “une fois que” mean?
“Une fois que” is a French phrase that can be translated to “once” or “after” in English.
It is a conjunction that is used to indicate a sequence of events, it’s used to indicate that one event or action will happen after another event or action has occurred. “Une fois” means “once” and “que” means “that” and together, the phrase “une fois que” it is often used to indicate the time or point at which something happens, or to indicate the condition or requirement that must be met before something else can happen.
For example:
- “Une fois que j’aurai fini mon travail, je pourrai partir” which means “Once I finish my work, I’ll be able to leave.”
- “Il faut attendre une fois que tout le monde sera là” which means “We have to wait until everyone is here.”
It is used to indicate a sequence of events, it’s used to indicate that one event or action will happen after another event or action has occurred, it can be used to indicate the time or point at which something happens, or to indicate the condition or requirement that must be met before something else can happen.
What words did I look up in this snippet?
- Keywords: “une fois”, “tout”, “bien propre”, “remettait”, “nénuphars”, “commençait”, “remplir”, “à nouveau”, “bassin”
- Idioms: “Une fois que”, “remettre les nénuphars” , “remplir à nouveau”
“Une fois que” is a conjunction that is used to indicate a sequence of events, in this case it means “once”. “Tout” means “all” or “everything” “Bien propre” means “very clean” “Remettait” means “put back” “Nénuphars” refers to the water lily “Commençait” means “began” “Remplir à nouveau” means “to refill again” “Bassin” means “pond” or “pool”.
The phrase “remettre les nénuphars” means to “put back the water lilies” and “remplir à nouveau” means to “refill again” The whole sentence means “Once everything was very clean, they put back the water lilies and began to refill the pond again.”
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