Que font tes parents dans la vie ? 👨‍👩‍👦

What do your parents do for a living?

Sep 12, 2023

Coucou ☕️🇫🇷🥐 I'm Amélie Laurent and this is my French newsletter. I supercharge your progress from A2 to B2 through colloquial dialogues.
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Salut mes champions de la langue française! 🏆 Thanks for opening us up for another lesson. You got this!

Rappelez-vous, l'apprentissage du français, c'est comme monter une bicyclette. Au début, ça peut être instable, mais une fois que vous avez pris le coup, vous ne l'oublierez jamais! 🚲
Remember, learning French is like riding a bicycle. It may be wobbly at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never forget it!

Pair today’s dialogue with last months Qu’est-ce que tu fais dans la vie ? 👨🏻‍🌾 for a double-hit of all things job.

Or if you were lucky enough to read that edition, sit back and watch how much job-related vocabulary you picked up! 😎

PS. I just got back from my beloved Burgundy (with a little cheeky stop in Geneva for good measure). So to my comments-squad I’m sorry for my lack of replies - I’m going to jump right on that. Lot’s of love to you all. September is the month to solidify our study habits. C’est parti!

Lake Geneva hits different. But the Swiss will only let you stay 90 days..

We all secretly know the only way to truly learn a language are real-life conversations and experiences. Lessons and grammar can only take us so far.
While real-life experiences are difficult to recreate, my colloquial conversational dialogues help you learn authentic French in context. They’re how real French people actually speak.

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Gros Bisous! A x

Dialogue Audio 🎧

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Dialogue du Jour

Paul : Que font tes parents dans la vie ?

Léna : Mon père est boulanger et ma mère est psychologue. Et toi, Paul, que font tes parents ?

Paul : Mon père est un homme à tout faire ✪. Il a sa propre petite entreprise et il travaille beaucoup à domicile ✪. Ma mère travaille dans la boîte ✪ d'un ami en tant que gestionnaire.

Léna : Ah, c'est intéressant. Ça doit être bien d'avoir un père qui peut tout réparer à la maison.

Paul : Oui, c'est vraiment pratique. Et ta mère, en tant que ✪ psychologue, est-ce qu'elle analyse tout ce que tu dis ?

Léna : (rires) Non, pas du tout ✪. Elle sait quand garder son chapeau de psychologue et quand être simplement ma mère.

Paul : C'est bon à savoir. Et ton père, est-ce qu'il te fait du pain frais tous les matins ?

Léna : Pas tous les matins, mais souvent. C'est l'un des avantages d'avoir un père boulanger.

Paul : Je peux imaginer. Ça doit sentir bon chez toi le matin.

Léna : Oui, c'est sûr. Et même si la carrière ✪ de ma mère est très différente, je pense que leur travail les rend tous les deux ✪ heureux.

Paul : C'est ce qui compte à la fin de la journée, non ? Que tu sois satisfait de ce que tu fais.

Léna : Exactement, Paul. Peu importe ✪ ce que tu fais, tant que tu es heureux, c'est ce qui compte.

♡ 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕠𝕨 👇

✪ Notes

un homme à tout faire = a handyman. Alt. un bricoleur ’Il fait des économies à la maison; c'est un bricoleur-né’ (He saves money at home; he's a born handyman)

travailler à domicile = work from home

une boîte = une enterprise = company (colq.) Also more commonly ‘a box’ & ‘a nightclub’.

pas du tout ✨= absolument pas Ex. ‘Franchement, cette robe ne te va pas du tout !” (Honestly, that dress doesn’t suite you at all!)

la carrière = profession = career (a true friend ie. it sounds or is the same as the english word) Ex. “Robert a fait carrière dans le journalisme”

tous les deux = deux personnes = both. One word in English, three in French. ”Le témoin dit les avoir vu tous les deux s'enfuir” (The witness said he had seen both of them running away.)

peu importe ✨= review from early in the summer here🗼

*✨ = especially ‘Frenchie’ words/phrases you should try and use more

Writing Prompt ✍️

My mother is a teacher (just like me!), she taught Art and French at a high school. On the other hand, my father was a farmer on the family farm. A rural childhood is something I’m so grateful for. I get my passions from my mom, and my hard-headed independence from my dad!

Alors, que font tes parents dans la vie ?

All answers are welcome. One word.. or one sentence.
Write me your answer in the comments. I can’t wait to read them! 👇🏼

Translation

P: What do your parents do for a living?

L: My father is a baker and my mother is a psychologist. And you, P, what do your parents do?

P: My father is a handyman. He has his own small business and works a lot from home. My mother works in a friend's company as a manager.

L: Ah, that's interesting. It must be nice to have a father who can fix everything at home.

P: Yes, it's really handy. And your mother, as a psychologist, does she analyze everything you say?

L: (laughs) No, not at all. She knows when to keep her psychologist hat on and when to just be my mother.

P: That's good to know. And your father, does he make you fresh bread every morning?

L: Not every morning, but often. That's one of the advantages of having a father who bakes.

P: I can imagine. It must smell good in your house in the morning.

L: It sure does. And even though my mother's career is very different, I think their work makes them both happy.

P: That's what counts at the end of the day, isn't it? That you're happy with what you do.

L: Exactly, P. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you're happy, that's what counts.

Exercise - Fill in the blank 💪

Quickly test your comprehension, accelerate your learning. 🚀

Ce livre n'est __ intéressant, je crois que je vais en choisir un autre.
This book is not at all interesting, I think I'm going to choose another one.
__ le temps qu'il fait, je vais courir ce matin.
No matter what the weather is, I am going for a run this morning.
Après cinq ans dans la même entreprise, il a décidé de change __ et a trouvé un nouvel emploi.
I lost my wallet, can you lend me money for the bus? I'll pay you back as soon as I get my card.
Mon voisin est vraiment __. Il m'a aidé à réparer ma voiture hier.
My neighbor is really a jack of all trades. He helped me fix my car yesterday.
Il est très dévoué à __ et travaille de longues heures chaque jour.
He is very dedicated to his career and works long hours every day.

If you’re struggling the ✪ Notes section is always a good place to look. 😉 The answers are all in the dialogue or notes section.

[NO PEAKING] Answer Key: 1. pas du tout 2. peu importe 3. de boîte 4. un homme à tout faire 5. la carrière

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Une Façon d'utiliser ce Dialogue

These dialogues are a very simple tool. Yet this allows them to be versatile and endlessly flexible to you and your learning style.
Here’s one way you could use the dialogue this week:

📣 Read the dialogue out loud (this bit is really important) to yourself.

Try and master the intonation of the words and emotions.Check out my quick guide🔗 for different ways you can learn with these dialogues. Perfect if you’re finding them too easy or too hard. 🙌🏻

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