Level A1 · Lesson 19
New York!
New York !
The ship has just reached New York. At the end of the gangway a little old man is waiting with an umbrella: it is Ganimard. Rozaine walks past him…
The story
Voici l’Amérique ! Tous les passagers viennent sur le pont pour voir New York.
Here is America! All the passengers come up on deck to see New York.
Le bateau vient d’arriver. Des douaniers et des hommes en uniforme montent à bord.
The ship has just arrived. Customs officers and men in uniform come on board.
Nelly est très pâle. « Et si Lupin vient de sauter dans la mer ? » — « Peut-être, mademoiselle. Il préfère la mer à la prison ! »
Nelly is very pale. “What if Lupin has just jumped into the sea?” “Perhaps, mademoiselle. He prefers the sea to prison!”
« Ne riez pas ! » dit-elle. Mais soudain, je vois un vieux petit homme au bout de la passerelle.
“Don’t laugh!” she says. But suddenly I see a little old man at the end of the gangway.
Il a un parapluie et une redingote vert olive. Je dis à Nelly : « C’est Ganimard, le policier célèbre ! »
He has an umbrella and an olive-green frock coat. I say to Nelly: “It is Ganimard, the famous detective!”
« Il vient de Paris pour arrêter Arsène Lupin. Il ne connaît pas son visage, mais il connaît peut-être son nom… »
“He has come from Paris to arrest Arsène Lupin. He does not know his face, but perhaps he knows his name…”
Ganimard regarde la foule, l’air tranquille. Derrière lui, un jeune officier parle à son oreille.
Ganimard watches the crowd, looking calm. Behind him a young officer speaks into his ear.
Les passagers descendent : le marquis de Raverdan, le major Rawson, Rivolta, le grand Italien à la barbe noire…
The passengers go down: the marquis de Raverdan, major Rawson, Rivolta, the tall Italian with the black beard…
Et voici Rozaine. Pauvre Rozaine ! Il vient de passer devant Ganimard… et Ganimard ne fait rien.
And here is Rozaine. Poor Rozaine! He has just walked past Ganimard… and Ganimard does nothing.
Vocabulary
- arriver: to arrive
- monter à bord: to come aboard
- descendre: to go down, to get off
- passer devant: to walk past
- la passerelle: the gangway
- le quai: the quay
- le douanier: the customs officer
- l’uniforme: the uniform
- la foule: the crowd
- le policier: the detective, the police officer
- célèbre: famous
- le parapluie: the umbrella
- la redingote: the frock coat
- vert olive: olive green
- l’air tranquille: looking calm
- arrêter: to arrest (also: to stop)
- le visage: the face
- vieux / vieil / vieille: old
- jeune: young
- beau / bel / belle: beautiful, handsome
- joli / jolie: pretty
- petit / petite: small, little
- grand / grande: big, tall
- bon / bonne: good
- pauvre: poor (before: pitiable; after: penniless)
- venir: to come
- venir de + infinitif: to have just done
- sauter: to jump
- préférer: to prefer
- la prison: prison
- l’oreille: the ear
- la barbe: the beard
Venir and venir de. Adjectives before the noun
Venir is irregular, and its forms are worth learning because a whole family of verbs copies it (revenir, to come back; devenir, to become):
| venir | ||
|---|---|---|
| je / tu | viens | I come / you come |
| il / elle / on | vient | he / she comes |
| nous | venons | we come |
| vous | venez | you come |
| ils / elles | viennent | they come |
Now the two faces of venir de. Followed by a place, it is plain “to come from”: il vient de Paris. Followed by an infinitive, it becomes a little time machine meaning “to have just done”: le bateau vient d’arriver, “the ship has just arrived”; Rozaine vient de passer, “Rozaine has just walked past”. The verb is in the present, but the action is a few seconds old. It is the twin of aller + infinitive from lesson 13: je vais partir (I am about to leave), je viens de partir (I have just left).
Adjectives before the noun. Most French adjectives come after the noun: une redingote vert olive, le policier célèbre. But a small club of short, everyday ones goes in front. English teachers remember them as BAGS: Beauty (beau, joli), Age (jeune, vieux, nouveau), Goodness (bon, mauvais), Size (petit, grand, gros). Hence un vieux petit homme and un jeune officier.
Two extra details. Vieux, beau and nouveau have a special form before a vowel so that they can glide into the noun: un vieil homme, un bel homme, un nouvel ami. And a few adjectives change meaning with their position: pauvre Rozaine is “poor Rozaine”, the one you feel sorry for, while un homme pauvre is a man with no money. Un grand homme is a great man; for a tall man French prefers un homme grand. Rivolta, le grand Italien, is simply tall.
Leblanc in the original
«Vous voyez ce vieux petit homme debout à l'extrémité de la passerelle?»Do you see that little old man standing at the end of the gangway?