October PDF version - Etcetera

Bonjour,
Oh miam miam ! J’ai bien mangé hier dimanche. Le dimanche, en
France, toute la famille se réunit le midi pour manger tous ensemble
un grand repas. Cela peut durer des heures et des heures, car tout le
monde discute de choses et d’autres. J’aime cuisiner et préparer des
repas pour ma famille et mes amis, mais surtout j’aime manger de bonnes choses. Le
matin, je prends mon petit-déjeuner. On dit que le petit-déjeuner est le repas le plus
important de la journée. Vers 12h30, je prends mon déjeuner. Je ne prends pas de goûter
vers 16h30 comme les enfants, mais je bois une tasse de thé. Le soir, je dîne avec mon
mari. En France, le repas du soir est aux environs de 20h30.
Dans tous les magazines, ils parlent de régimes. Une personne fait un régime ou est au
régime pour perdre du poids, c’est-à-dire maigrir. D’autres personnes ont d’autres problèmes
de poids, elles sont trop minces ou maigres, alors elles doivent prendre du poids.
Dans ce cas, elles veulent grossir. Je voudrais bien les aider en leur donnant un peu de
mes kilos en trop !
Quand nous avons besoin de faire une analyse de sang, le médecin nous demande parfois
d’être à jeun. Cela veut dire que nous ne devons ni manger ni boire pendant les douze
heures avant la prise de sang. Souvent, quand cela m’arrive, j’ai faim et j’ai soif.
Dans certaines religions, les pratiquants font le jeûne. Ils ne doivent pas manger à des
moments précis ou ils doivent réduire leur consommation. Je pense que c’est difficile à
faire et qu’ils sont très courageux. Moi, je suis gourmande, j’aime bien manger. Le tout est
de ne pas vivre pour manger mais manger pour vivre !
J’ai faim (I am hungry), in French we say « I have hunger », and « j’ai soif » for “I am thirsty”
– “I have thirst”. Toute la famille se réunit (all the family reunites/meets), it comes from the
irregular verb “se réunir” in the present of indicative, it is conjugated in the 3rd person of
the singular as “la famille” is singular even though it represents several people. It is also
the same for other words representing several people but the word itself can be in the
singular, for example: “tout le monde”, “le groupe de personnes”, “la plupart des personnes”,
etc. J’aime cuisiner (I like cooking), there is only one verb in English but two in
French for “to cook”: “cuisiner” means to cook in the sense of preparing meals, and “cuire”
means to cook in the sense of putting in the heat. So you can have the sentence: “Je
cuisine un bon repas, il faut cuire le rôti à 200°C pendant 45 minutes. ». Je prends mon
petit-déjeuner (I have my breakfast), in English you have a breakfast, a dinner, a meal, a
shower, a bath, a drink, etc., in French you take (to take = prendre) « vous prenez un
petit-déjeuner, un dîner, un repas, une douche, un bain, une boisson, etc. ». Quand nous
avons besoin de faire une analyse de sang (When one needs to have a blood test done),
it comes from the verbial expression « avoir besoin de faire quelque chose », it means « to
need to have something done ». Le tout est de ne pas vivre pour manger mais manger
pour vivre ! (The essential is not to live to eat but to eat to live!), “le tout” can mean “the
whole, the essential”. When a verb in the infinitive is negative, we place “ne pas” (or any
other negation) directly in front of the verb in the infinitive: “ne pas manger”, “ne pas
dormir”, “ne pas boire” etc.
A bientôt ! Isabelle
Vocabulaire :
Français avec Isabelle
J’AI FAIM!
Avoir faim to be hungry
Avoir soif to be thirsty
Se réunir (reflexive verb)to reunite, to meet
Ensemble together
Durer to last
Cuisiner to cook = to prepare meals
Cuire to cook = to put in the heat
Surtout above all
Un régime a diet
Le poids the weight
Perdre du poids to lose weight
Maigrir to lose weight
Mince (adj.) thin
Maigre (adj.) skinny
Prendre du poids to put on weight
Grossir to put on weight
Une analyse de sang a blood test
Etre à jeun to have eaten or drunk nothing
La prise de sang the blood taking
Souvent often
Précis (adj) precised
Réduire to reduce
La consommation the consumption
3
Ben Scher’s
‘cut out & keep guides’
4. Children
I have three
children. Or rather
three children have
me. They’re
beautiful, funny,
inspiring, heartbreaking. They’re annoying,
clumsy, noisy, messy. Since our baby boy
joined us a few months ago I’ve been
constantly tired and have become even
grumpier. But I’m a better person for
having them in my life, I live a better life by
sharing theirs.
It’s not always easy. In fact, it’s almost
always not easy. Take going out for a bike
ride for example....
My two big boys like going for bike rides.
They’re not so big that they can go on their
own though, so we go together using the
bike trailer I bought off a friend.
“Who’d like to go for a ride in the bike
trailer?” I suggest enthusiastically.
“Me! Me!” they reply, spilling their drinks as
they jump up to go.
I mop up the mess; everything’s fine, we’ve
got tiles.
Before we can go they need some shoes.
Any shoes would do - slippers, wellies,
anything - but there aren’t any to be found.
I look on the shoe shelf where they should
be and there’s my tape measure, a stick,
and a pile of leaves, acorns and feathers.
I search the house, looking in every room...
nothing. I try outside next; all their shoes
are by the sandpit.
By now the boys have disappeared. I do
have their shoes, but I can’t go for a bike
ride with just their shoes. Boys are noisier
than shoes though, so are easier to find.
“Right, I’ve got your shoes. Come on, bike
ride!” I’ve gone off the idea to be honest,
but it’s easier to carry on with this plan than
to come up with another one.
“Yeah! Bike ride!” Phew, they’re still keen.
I manage to shove their jiggling feet into
their shoes without making either of them
cry.
As we head towards the bike trailer they
both jump onto their own bikes and start
riding towards the gate.
“No no, the bike trailer,” I say as cheerfully
as possible. It’s been half an hour since I
suggested it and we’ve still not started.
The screaming starts almost instantly.
Apparently I hadn’t made it clear that I
meant the bike trailer and not their own
bikes. Bike rides with their own bikes are
rather boring; we barely get more than a
minute down the road. But boring is better
that screaming so we go for a minute’s bike
ride down the road.
This is just one example, but it’s always the
same; whenever you try to do something
with children it always takes ages and it
always involves some screaming. And
hunting for shoes.