Level A1 · Lesson 13
Rozaine is free
Rozaine est libre
The captain summons Rozaine. Tonight, everyone is going to dance! Under the moon I speak to miss Nelly. But the next morning, surprise: Rozaine is free.
The story
Le soir, le commandant convoque monsieur Rozaine. Tout le monde est soulagé : « Arsène Lupin va aller en prison ! »
In the evening the captain summons Mr Rozaine. Everybody is relieved: “Arsène Lupin is going to go to prison!”
Ce soir, on va jouer et danser. Les passagers vont au salon, et les musiciens commencent.
Tonight we are going to play games and dance. The passengers go to the lounge, and the musicians strike up.
Miss Nelly est très gaie. Elle danse, elle parle, elle oublie complètement monsieur Rozaine.
Miss Nelly is very cheerful. She dances, she chats, she completely forgets Mr Rozaine.
À minuit, nous allons sur le pont. La lune brille sur la mer.
At midnight we go up on deck. The moon shines on the sea.
Je dis à miss Nelly : « Je vais rester à côté de vous jusqu’à New York. » Elle ne dit pas non.
I say to miss Nelly: “I am going to stay by your side all the way to New York.” She does not say no.
Mais le lendemain matin, le commandant annonce une nouvelle aux passagers : Rozaine est libre !
But the next morning the captain announces some news to the passengers: Rozaine is free!
Il est le fils d’un grand négociant de Bordeaux. Ses papiers sont en règle, et ses bras sont sans blessure.
He is the son of a big merchant from Bordeaux. His papers are in order, and his arms have no wound.
Les ennemis de Rozaine protestent : « Des papiers ? Ce n’est pas un problème pour Arsène Lupin ! »
Rozaine’s enemies protest: “Papers? That is no problem for Arsène Lupin!”
Quand Rozaine arrive près de notre groupe, miss Nelly et lady Jerland vont à la salle à manger. Elles ne vont pas rester avec ce monsieur !
When Rozaine comes near our group, miss Nelly and lady Jerland go off to the dining room. They are not going to stay with that gentleman!
Vocabulary
- jouer: to play
- danser: to dance
- le salon: the lounge
- le musicien / la musicienne: the musician
- gai / gaie: cheerful
- la lune: the moon
- minuit: midnight
- briller: to shine
- convoquer: to summon
- la prison: prison
- libre: free
- le fils: the son
- le négociant / la négociante: the merchant
- les papiers: identity papers
- en règle: in order
- l’ennemi / l’ennemie: the enemy
- protester: to protest
- annoncer: to announce
- la nouvelle: the piece of news
- aller: to go
- au salon: to the lounge
- à la salle à manger: to the dining room
- aux passagers: to the passengers
- sur le pont: on deck
- à côté de: next to, beside
- près de: near
- jusqu’à: until, as far as
- le lendemain: the next day
- rester: to stay
Aller (to go), the near future, and au, à la, aux
Aller, “to go”, is one of the wildest irregular verbs in French: three of its forms do not even start with the same letter as the infinitive. It is also one of the most useful, so it is worth learning by heart today.
| aller | ||
|---|---|---|
| je | vais | I go, I am going |
| tu | vas | you go (one friend) |
| il / elle / on | va | he / she goes, we go |
| nous | allons | we go |
| vous | allez | you go (polite, or several) |
| ils / elles | vont | they go |
The near future. Here is the good news: French builds its everyday future exactly like English “going to”. Take aller, add an infinitive, done. On va danser, we are going to dance. Je vais rester, I am going to stay. There is even no “to” to remember: the infinitive follows aller directly. With this one trick you can talk about tomorrow without learning a single new tense.
To make it negative, wrap ne… pas around aller, not around the infinitive: Elles ne vont pas rester. They are not going to stay.
Au, à la, aux. In lesson 12, de + le fused into du. The little word à (to, at) does the same thing:
| à… | ||
|---|---|---|
| le salon | au salon | à + le → au |
| la salle à manger | à la salle à manger | no change |
| l’hôtel | à l’hôtel | no change |
| les passagers | aux passagers | à + les → aux |
It works for every meaning of à: “to” a place (ils vont au salon), “at” a place (ils sont au salon), and “to” a person (il parle aux passagers). You have already met one of these in lesson 6: aux États-Unis, “to” or “in the United States”, is à + les in disguise.
Leblanc in the original
«Ce soir-là on joua aux petits jeux. On dansa.»That evening we played parlour games. We danced.