Scenes Season 2 | Chapter 6: Où est passé Milou ?

Prime Video offers the best in entertainment. This should be fun. Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista go completely down in the hilarious new action film The Wrecking Crew. Inbegrepen by Prime. Yeah, I'm pumped. Find the new Game of Thrones series A Night of the Seven Kingdoms. Based on the bestseller of George R.R. Martin. Look by being a member of HBO Max. So be brave, be just. So whatever you want to find, Prime Video. Here you look at everything. Abonnement is revised. In-house conferencing is 18+. All right, let's get started. Coffee Break French. Moi, c'est Marc. Et moi, c'est Hélène. Comment vas-tu, Hélène? Eh bien, ça va super. Et je suis encore une fois très heureuse de te retrouver pour discuter d'un nouvel épisode de Scenes from the Coffee Break French Café. Tout à fait. This is our podcast series and our course where we are eavesdropping on life in a little cafe in a little town somewhere in France. And we are going to be catching up, first of all, on what happened last time. So Hélène, is it possible to explain a little bit what happened? Yes, so in the last episode, Jérôme was coming back from his office for the post-factor of the village. Oh, yes. And we also saw Aurora, who ended up filming the scenes for the film. And so, as she has a little time left, she will work a little bit with Fifi and Nico. Perfect. Alors nous allons maintenant lire le sixième chapitre et ensuite nous allons en parler. Allez, c'est parti ! When Monique and Romain are arrived, I gave them a table in terrace. but in fact, he didn't come to dinner. He wanted to ask if we hadn't seen Milou, the dog of Monique, because he had disappeared for a few hours. Romain was going to search for him to take his passport to get his passport. and it was in wanting to enter the dog that she was perceived. They had already searched everywhere in the neighborhood and had even gone to the SPA and the veterinarian but still no trace of the Tekel-Nin to the point long. Aurore, who had heard everything, like most people on the terrace, was so pressured to give her favorite tea, so that Monique stops turning in all the senses and calm a little. Fifi, behind the bar, was really sad for her. car il pensait qu'il y avait peu d'espoir de retrouver son chien. Il m'a alors expliqué qu'il avait lu dans le journal local que depuis le début de l'été, beaucoup de chiens avaient disparu sur la côte et que la gendarmerie parlait même d'enlèvement et de trafic de chiens. Heureusement que Monique ne pouvait pas nous entendre, car cela leur est affolé davantage. Une heure plus tard, alors qu'ils s'étaient absentés pour aller acheter de la viande à la boucherie, pendant que Monique continuait d'appeler à droite et à gauche, Romain est arrivé avec Milou dans les bras. J'ai pensé « tout est bien qui finit bien » alors que Monique embrassait son chien et le serrait très fort contre elle, tout en écoutant Romain expliquer que Jacques avait repéré Milou derrière la boucherie. Oh là là, il s'est passé des choses encore dans cet épisode. Exactement. OK, let's go back through each sentence and we'll talk about it in turn. Quand Monique et Romain sont arrivés, je leur ai proposé une table en terrasse, mais en fait, ils ne venaient pas déjeuner. OK, so, quand Monique et Romain sont arrivés, when Monique et Romain arrived, Je leur ai proposé une table en terrasse. I offered them a table on the terrace. Now this is proposé à quelqu'un, so that's why it's leur. Je leur ai proposé. I, to them, proposed une table en terrasse, a table on the terrace. Oui, exactement, avec le indirect object pronoun here for the leur. Tout à fait. Mais en fait, but in fact, and we always need to remember to pronounce the T in en fait, Ils ne venaient pas déjeuner. They weren't coming to have lunch. Ils voulaient nous demander They wanted to ask us. Si nous n'avions pas aperçu Milou. So, if we hadn't seen Milou, we'll come back to that. aperçu, there comes from the verb apercevoir which means to notice or to see and who is Milou? le chien de Monique, Monique's dog puisqu'il avait disparu depuis quelques heures because he had been missing or he had disappeared for a few hours Oui, exactement et donc Milou, c'est un nom assez connu pour les chiens Est-ce que tu sais de où est-ce qu'il est très connu? Est-ce que c'est le chien de Tintin? Oui, c'est ça, c'est Tintin et Milou. Et Milou, exactement. Dans la bande dessinée très connue. And Milou in English, the English version of Tintin, Tintin, is called Snowy. Ah oui, parce qu'il est tout blanc. Tout blanc, exactement. So they wanted to ask us if we hadn't seen Milou. Why is it if we hadn't seen Milou? Could we have said here, il voulait nous demander si nous avions aperçu Milou? Oui, oui, oui, on pourrait l'utiliser sans la négation. Ça marcherait aussi, mais là, je pense que ça rajoute un peu cet effet, cette idée de ne pas l'avoir vu. Oui, exactement. I think in English, we'd be more likely to see it in the affirmative. They wanted to ask us if we had seen Milou. And I've got another question here, Hélène. puisqu'il avait disparu depuis quelques heures. I've always thought that with depuis, we used an imperfect to convey a plus perfect sense. But what's going on here? So here, if we had used an imperfect, puisqu'il disparaissait depuis quelques heures, that would change a bit the meaning. That would mean that he was in the process of disappearing for several hours. Yes, he was fading away very, very slowly. Which is a bit weird. So that's why here we're using the plus perfect, qu'il avait disparu, so he had disappeared. And that happened and that's already done. Okay, so if, for example, the dog had been unwell for several hours, then we could use the imperfect. Il était malade depuis quelques heures. Oui, exactement. Parfait. Okay. Good. Right, let's move on. Romain était passé la chercher pour l'amener à la mairie afin de récupérer son nouveau passeport et c'est en voulant rentrer le chien qu'elle s'en est aperçue. Okay, there's quite a lot going on grammatically in this. It's really nice. Romain était passé la chercher. So he had gone to pick her up pour l'amener à la mairie, to take her to the town hall. And this is Monique, not Milou. Oui, exactement. So Romain had gone to pick up Monique to take her to the town hall afin de récupérer son nouveau passeport. So that, or in order to, for her to collect her new passport. Et c'est en voulant rentrer le chien. And it was when she went to bring the dog back, qu'elle s'en est aperçue. That she realized what was happening. Yeah, that the dog wasn't in the garden. Yeah, okay. So when you rentrer le chien is to bring the dog in. The dog might be out playing or whatever. And you're bringing the dog in. And qu'elle s'en est aperçue. So we've got s'apercevoir de quelque chose, to notice or to realize something. And we've got a feminine agreement there. What's that agreeing with? Because here it's reflexive. So we're using it with être. And so we need to agree. with the subject, so elle. Yeah, and I think the en perhaps throws us a little, it kind of makes us think, oh, what are we, is there something in the en that we're agreeing with? But it's just a reflexive verb, s'apercevoir de quelque chose, or really a pronominal verb if we want to be very, very specific. Elle s'en est aperçue, she realized what was going on. And the en is the fact that the dog was missing. Demons. Ils avaient déjà cherché partout dans le quartier et étaient même passés à la SPA et chez le vétérinaire, mais toujours aucune trace du tequelin à poil long. Okay, some technical terms in here. Ils avaient déjà cherché partout dans le quartier, so they had already searched everywhere in the neighborhood, et étaient même passés à la SPA. And they had even gone to the SPA, so that the SP as the Société Protectrice des Animaux, I think. Oui, exactement. So like French Animal Rescue. Et chez le vétérinaire, and also to the vet's office or the vet's place. So they had already checked all these different places, mais toujours aucune trace du thé qu'elle n'a un poil long. But there was still no sign of the long-haired miniature tachin. Exactly. The Tekel, the little sausage dogs. Yeah, the sausage dogs. I never know how to say the word Dachshund in English because it's theoretically in German, it would be Dachshund. But yeah, you sound a little odd when you say it like that. OK, let us continue. Okay, so we've got Aurore, qui avait tout entendu, who had heard everything, like most of the people on the terrace, s empress de lui servir son th pr So she hurried to serve her as in Monique her favourite tea De lui servir son thé préféré. And this s'empresser de quelque chose is a nice expression. Yes, it's to hurry to do something. And like s'apercevoir de quelque chose is also reflexive. So we see an agreement there, s'est empressé, with an extra E on the end. Yeah, and often followed by infinitive, sans presser de faire quelque chose. Tout à fait. And why did you do this? Pour que Monique arrête de tourner dans tous les sens, so that Monique literally stopped turning around in circles or panicking, I guess. Oui, exactement, to be agitated. Yeah, et se calme un peu, and calme un peu, so that she calme un peu. So Fifi, derrière le bar, behind the bar, était vraiment triste pour elle. He was really sad for her, car il pensait qu'il y avait peu d'espoir de retrouver son chien. Because he thought that there was little hope, peu d'espoir, de retrouver son chien of finding her dog. He's a little pessimistic. I was just thinking that. He then explained to me that he had read in the local journal that since the beginning of summer, many dogs had disappeared on the coast and that the police department talked about about stealing and trafficking of dogs. Oh dear, I'm guessing that's why he's pessimistic. He then explained to me, We use the word alors so often meaning well, but it can also be used in that sort of temporal sense saying the next thing that happened. Il m'a alors expliqué qu'il avait lu dans le journal that he had read in the newspaper, le journal local in fact, so the local newspaper, que depuis le début de l'été, that since the beginning of summer, beaucoup de chiens avaient disparu. many dogs had gone missing sur la cote, on the coast, et que la gendarmerie and the police parlaient même d'enlèvement et de trafic de chiens. The police were even talking about abductions and dog trafficking. Oui, exactement. Et la gendarmerie, ce n'est pas tout à fait la police. C'est un petit peu différent en France. Il y a la police classique et la gendarmerie qui a plus une structure un peu militaire et qui sont plus présents sur les départements entiers. Donc, il y a moins de gendarmerie que de police. OK. So, it's like a regional police service. Oui, c'est un peu plus ça. OK. Et ils vont plus se déplacer sur de plus grandes surfaces que la police. D'accord. Je comprends. Heureusement que Monique ne pouvait pas nous entendre car cela l'aurait affolé davantage. So, heureusement, fortunately, and when we say heureusement, we follow up with que in French, whereas in English we could just see here, fortunately, Monique ne pouvait pas nous entendre, she couldn't hear us, car cela l'aurait affolé davantage, because that would have upset her, would have panicked her even more. Oui, être affolé is really to be panicked, to be very worried. Very worried indeed. and we also see the L apostrophe there and that L apostrophe is standing for LA referring to Monique and that's why we see cela l'aurait affolé with an agreement on the end of affolé Oui Bon, moi je pense que c'est le temps de faire une petite pause Tu as bien raison We'll be back in just a moment to find out the rest of the story In each episode of the Scenes from the Coffee Break Cafe podcast, you'll enjoy listening to the story and our discussion of key words and phrases from each chapter. But what if you could explore the language even further and take your learning to the next level? That's where the Scenes online course comes in. For every chapter, you'll get comprehensive lesson notes, a video version of the reading, exercises, vocabulary and even spotlight videos that help break down the key expressions and grammar points with additional examples. It's the perfect way to deepen your understanding and get even more from the story. To access this wealth of learning resources visit coffeebreaklanguages.com slash scenes. Okay, so let's find out what happens. I hope that they find Milou. Une heure plus tard, alors qu'il s'était absenté pour aller chercher de la viande à la boucherie pendant que Monique continuait d'appeler à droite et à gauche, Romain est arrivé avec Milou dans les bras. Oh, good news! Une heure plus tard, so one hour later, alors qu'il s'était absenté pour aller acheter de la viande à la boucherie, So while he had gone out to buy some meat at the baker's, at the butcher's even, pendant que Monique continuait d'appeler à droite et à gauche, while Monique was still calling around left and right everywhere, Romain est arrivé avec Milou dans les bras. Romain arrived with Milou in his arms. Et en anglais, toi tu dis left and right? Right and left, left and right. You're making me think now, left and right, right and left. I think we say left and right. Oui, du coup, vous commencez à gauche, et en français, nous, on dit plus à droite. À droite et à gauche, oui, justement. À droite et à gauche. Très intéressant. Peut que c par rapport au fait qu conduise dans des directions diff Peut peut I never thought about that Left and right right and left left and right Let us know in the comments. Okay, let's continue. J'ai pensé, tout est bien qui finit bien. Alors que Monique embrassait son chien et le serrait très fort contre elle, tout en écoutant Romain expliquer que Jacques avait repéré Milou derrière la boucherie. So Nico is saying, j'ai pensé, I thought, tout est bien qui finit bien. All's well that ends well. Alors que Monique embrassait son chien, while Monique was kissing her dog, et le serrait très fort contre elle, and was hugging him tightly, tout en écoutant, all the while listening to Romain, expliquer que Jacques avait repéré Milou derrière la boucherie. So all the while listening to Romain who was explaining that Jacques had spotted Milou behind the butchers. Oui, exactement. Il a sûrement senti la viande. Exactement, exactement. Repérer. It's a tricky word to say. Oui, c'est vrai. Repérer. The first one is E and then twice the E. Repérer. And it's linked to the word repère. Oui, un repère is a place of hiding, un repère. And you can also say, I think, prendre ses repères, which means to get your bearings when you arrive in a new place. On prend ses repères. Oui, this time the accent is grave. Yeah, repère, but in the verb repérer. Right, well, we have covered quite a bit in this chapter. We've seen some nice sort of idiomatic expressions à droite et à gauche. Tout est bien qui finit bien. We've also used the blue perfects a couple of times and sometimes an imperfect to represent a blue perfect with depuis. Oui, et puis on a eu aussi du vocabulaire assez intéressant, notamment la SPA. Oui, la Société Protectrice des Animaux. Exactement. and they have a lot of refuge in France a little everywhere. And they collect lost or abandoned animals. And we can go and adopt them. Very, very good. And also, we had the tekelna à poil long. Yes, it's my favorite word. The tekel. We often say the chicken saucy. The chicken saucy. Okay, let's listen out for those things as we listen once more to the text. When Monique and Romain arrived, I had proposed a table in terrace. But in fact, they didn't have breakfast. They wanted to ask if we hadn't seen Milou, the dog of Monique, because he had disappeared for a few hours. Romain was searching for him to take his passport to get his passport. and it was in wanting to enter the dog that she was able to get it. They had already searched everywhere in the neighborhood and had even gone to the SPA and at the veterinary but still no trace of the Tekel-Nin to the point long. Aurore, who had heard everything, like most people on the terrace, s'est empressée de lui servir son thé préféré pour que Monique arrête de tourner dans tous les sens et se calme un peu. Fifi, derrière le bar, était vraiment triste pour elle car il pensait qu'il y avait peu d'espoir de retrouver son chien. Il m'a alors expliqué qu'il avait lu dans le journal local que depuis le début de l'été, many of the chickens had disappeared on the coast and that the gendarmerie spoke even about the removal and the traffic of chickens. Heureusement that Monique could not hear us, because it would have been more than enough. One hour later, while they were absent to order to buy the meat at the grocery store, while Monique continued to call to the right and to the left, Romain est arrivé avec Milou dans les bras. J'ai pensé « tout est bien qui finit bien », alors que Monique embrassait son chien et le serrait très fort contre elle, tout en écoutant Romain expliquer que Jacques avait repéré Milou derrière la boucherie. Now this episode is of course part of the Coffee Break French Scenes course and in the course you can have access to lesson notes, additional vocabulary, exercises and our spotlight videos where we pick up on some interesting aspect of the text and you can find it all about that at coffeebreakacademy.com And if you want to continue improving your French You can also sign up to our newsletter to receive a new little lesson from us every week. You just have to go to coffeebreakfrench.com. Okay, that is it for this lesson. Merci beaucoup, Hélène. Merci beaucoup, Marc. C'était encore une fois très intéressant. Et à la prochaine. À la prochaine. you have been listening to a coffee break languages production for the radiolingua network copyright 2026 radiolingua limited recording copyright 2026 radiolingua limited all rights reserved