About This Lesson
Use Sending a report before a meeting to practice French conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.
Dialogue
A
Le rapport est-il prêt ?
luh ra-POHR ay-TEEL PREH Is the report ready?
B
Il est presque prêt.
eel ay PRESK PREH It is almost ready.
A
Envoyez-moi le fichier quand il est prêt, s’il vous plaît.
ahn-vwah-YAY mwah luh fee-SYAY kahn eel ay PREH, seel voo PLEH Please send me the file when it is ready.
B
Je viens de finir la dernière page.
zhuh vyan duh fee-NEER lah der-NYAIR pahzh I just finished the last page.
A
J’en ai besoin avant le début de la réunion.
zhahn ay buh-ZWAN ahn-VAHN luh day-BOO duh lah ray-oo-NYON I need it before the meeting starts.
B
Je joins le nouveau fichier maintenant.
zhuh zhwan luh noo-VOH fee-SYAY man-tuh-NAHN I am attaching the new file now.
A
Je vais le vérifier tout de suite.
zhuh vay luh vay-ree-FYAY too duh sweet I will check it right away.
B
Il devrait être dans votre boîte de réception maintenant.
eel duh-VRAY EH-tr duh vuhtr BWAHT duh ray-sep-SYON man-tuh-NAHN It should be in your inbox now.Word by Word
Le
In “Le rapport est-il prêt ?”, Le means “the” before the masculine singular noun rapport. The same article appears in “le fichier” and “le début de la réunion”, so it is used directly before the noun it specifies.
rapport
In “Le rapport est-il prêt ?”, rapport means “report”, the document being checked. It is used as the subject of the question and can be specified by an article such as Le.
est
In “Le rapport est-il prêt ?”, est means “is” and links the report with its state of being ready. In the question, it appears before the subject pronoun il as part of the question form.
il
In “Il est presque prêt.” and “quand il est prêt”, il means “it” and refers to the report or file being discussed. It functions as the subject before a verb or description.
prêt
In “Le rapport est-il prêt ?” and “il est prêt”, prêt means “ready”. It describes the report or file as completed enough to be sent, and it follows a form of être when stating that something is ready.
presque
In “Il est presque prêt.”, presque means “almost”, showing that the file is close to being ready but is not presented as fully ready yet. It comes before the description prêt and can modify a similar degree or state.
Envoyez
In “Envoyez-moi le fichier quand il est prêt, s’il vous plaît.”, Envoyez asks the addressee to send something. It is the polite or plural command form used when directly requesting an action, and it is followed here by the thing to be sent.
moi
In “Envoyez-moi le fichier”, moi means “me”, the person who should receive the file. After this command, it appears after a hyphen as the indirect object, indicating who should receive the action.
fichier
In “Envoyez-moi le fichier” and “Je joins le nouveau fichier”, fichier means “file”, specifically the work document being sent or attached. It follows a determiner such as le or the adjective nouveau.
quand
In “quand il est prêt”, quand means “when” and introduces the condition in time for sending the file. It is followed by a clause containing its own subject and verb.
s’il vous plaît
The whole expression “s’il vous plaît” means “please” and makes the request polite. In this fixed expression, s’il, vous, and plaît work together: s’il introduces the polite formula, vous addresses the listener formally or addresses several people, and plaît completes the expression.
Je
Je means “I” when the speaker presents themself as the subject, as in “Je viens de finir” and “Je joins le nouveau fichier”. Before a vowel, the same pronoun appears in the dialogue as J’ in “J’en ai besoin”.
viens
In “Je viens de finir la dernière page”, viens contributes the idea that the action has just happened. Together with de and the infinitive finir, it forms the recent-action expression used to report a newly completed task.
de
In “Je viens de finir la dernière page”, de helps form the expression for an action that has just happened. It also links the beginning with what it belongs to in “le début de la réunion”, and it is part of the fixed expression “tout de suite”.
finir
In “Je viens de finir la dernière page”, finir means “finish”, referring to completing the last page. It follows de in the recent-action expression and takes la dernière page as the thing completed.
la
In “la dernière page” and “la réunion”, la means “the” before a feminine singular noun. It specifies the noun that follows, such as page or réunion.
dernière
In “la dernière page”, dernière means “last”, identifying the final page of the report. It comes before page and matches the form used with that noun.
page
In “Je viens de finir la dernière page”, page means “page”, the final part of the report that has just been completed. It is the object of the action finir.
en
In “J’en ai besoin”, en represents the thing that is needed, referring here to the report or file already being discussed. With this expression of need, it replaces the thing introduced with de and appears before the verb form ai.
ai
In “J’en ai besoin”, ai contributes “have” to the expression meaning “need it”. It is used with besoin, while en represents the thing needed, and the subject pronoun J’ comes before it.
besoin
In “J’en ai besoin”, besoin contributes the idea of need, but the complete expression communicates “I need it”. It is used with a form of avoir and can be followed by the thing needed or represented by en.
avant
In “avant le début de la réunion”, avant means “before” and sets the deadline in time. It comes before the event or time phrase that must not yet have started.
début
In “le début de la réunion”, début means “beginning” or “start”, referring to the point when the meeting begins. It is followed by de la réunion to identify what is beginning.
réunion
In “le début de la réunion”, réunion means “meeting”, the workplace event that the report is needed before. It is used after de to specify the event’s beginning.
joins
In “Je joins le nouveau fichier maintenant”, joins means “attach”, describing the speaker’s action of adding the file to the message. It is used after Je and before the object being attached.
nouveau
In “le nouveau fichier”, nouveau means “new”, identifying the recently updated file. It comes before fichier and describes which file is being attached.
maintenant
In “Je joins le nouveau fichier maintenant” and “dans votre boîte de réception maintenant”, maintenant means “now”. It places the action or expected location at the current time and can appear at the end of the sentence.
vais
In “Je vais le vérifier tout de suite”, vais expresses “am going to” as part of a plan for an immediate action. It is followed by the infinitive vérifier, forming a reusable way to say what someone is about to do.
vérifier
In “Je vais le vérifier tout de suite”, vérifier means “check” or “verify”, referring to examining the file. It follows vais and takes le as the thing being checked.
tout de suite
The whole expression “tout de suite” means “right away” or “immediately”. In this fixed expression, tout, de, and suite function together rather than being translated separately, and the expression modifies the action vérifier to show that it will happen without delay.
devrait
In “Il devrait être dans votre boîte de réception maintenant”, devrait means “should”, expressing an expectation rather than absolute certainty about the file’s location. It is followed by être and is useful when stating where something is expected to be.
être
In “Il devrait être dans votre boîte de réception maintenant”, être means “be” and links the file with its expected location. It follows devrait in the construction used to express what should be the case.
dans
In “dans votre boîte de réception”, dans means “in” and introduces the container where the file is expected to be. It is used before a location or container phrase.
votre
In “votre boîte de réception”, votre means “your”, referring to the addressee’s inbox. It comes directly before the noun it identifies and can be reused before another noun belonging to the person addressed.
boîte
In “votre boîte de réception”, boîte contributes the idea of a box or container. Together with réception, it forms the full expression for “inbox”, so the complete term—not boîte alone—names the email location.
réception
In “votre boîte de réception”, réception completes the expression for “inbox”. It contributes the idea of receiving, while boîte de réception as a whole identifies the place where incoming messages and files appear.
Grammar Points
venir de + infinitif
Je viens de finir le rapport.
zhuh vyan duh fee-NEER luh ra-POHRI have just finished the report.
French uses venir de followed by an infinitive to express an action that happened just now.
Impératif avec « vous »
Envoyez le fichier, s’il vous plaît.
ahn-vwah-YAY luh fee-SYAY, seel voo PLEHPlease send the file.
The vous imperative gives a polite instruction or request; the subject pronoun is omitted.
French Vocabulary
dernier
adj
dehr-NYAY
last
dernière
envoyer
verb
ahn-vwah-YAY
to send
Envoyez
être
verb
EH-truh
to be
est
fichier
noun
fee-SYAY
file
finir
verb
fee-NEER
to finish
page
noun
PAHZH
page
presque
adv
PRESK
almost
prêt
adj
PREH
ready
quand
conj
KAHN
when
rapport
noun
ra-POHR
report
s’il vous plaît
phrase
seel voo PLEH
please
venir de
phrase
vuh-NEER duh
to have just
viens de
Quiz
Word Order
Arrange the words in the correct order.
Is the report ready?
Show Answer
Le rapport est-il prêt ?It is almost ready.
Show Answer
Il est presque prêt.I am attaching the new file now.
Show Answer
Je joins le nouveau fichier maintenant.Spelling
Tap the letters to spell the word.
report
Show Answer
rapportto send
Show Answer
Envoyezalmost
Show Answer
presquewhen