🇫🇷 Serrer les dents🦷(Practice your French with this dialogue at work)🧑‍💼#14

Grit my teeth / Bite the bullet

This is a bilingual post to practice French reading, writing, listening and speaking.

1st Step - 🎧 Listen to the voiceover☝️ while reading the text 👇

2nd Step - 📢 🦜Listen and repeat each sentence as closely as possible to the original (pronunciation, intonation and rhythm of our voice)

3rd Step - 🎙️ Record yourself and compare with the original

This activity is called “Shadowing”. It’s one of the most effective ways of learning a language. Plus, it’s not weird since I am asking you to do it 😜

Have fun❤️

Serrer les dents

Grit the teeth = Grit my/your/his/her teeth (but can also reflect the idea of “Bite the bullet” an expression that I love. Unfortunatly nobody is using “Mordre la balle” in France yet.

Yann : Excuse-moi Margo, quand tu auras un moment, je peux te poser une question ?

Excuse me Margo, when you have a moment, can I ask you a question?

Margo : Vas-y mais rapide, hein. Je suis pressé.

Go ahead, but be quick, ok. I'm in a hurry. (“pressé” also means squeezed as in “un jus d’orange pressé”)

Yann : Qui sera le responsable de ce projet ?

Who is going to be the lead for this project?

Margo : Ben ! En fait, euh, je remplace le manager en ce moment parce qu'il est malade. Donc c’est moi.

Well, actually, uh, I’m filling in for my manager today because he’s sick. So it's me.

Yann : Tu peux m'expliquer un truc ? J'ai du mal à piger ma mission.

Can you explain something to me? I'm having trouble understanding my assignment.

Margo : J’ai dit rapide. Lorsqu’on travaille sur un projet collectif, on doit savoir faire sa part.

I said fast. When you work on a group project, you need to pull your own weight.

Yann : Mais la semaine prochaine, on doit faire le point sur le projet pour s’assurer qu’on a bien progressé.

But next week, we need to touch base about the project to make sure we’re making progress.

Margo : Je peux pas tout faire. Allez bon courage !

I can't do everything. Good luck with that!

Yann : Bon, ben, je crois que je vais devoir serrer les dents.

Well, I guess I'll have to grit my teeth.

Coucou ! 👋

I hope you've enjoyed this little shadowing activity and discovered some cool new French words and phrases.

Did you have "du mal à piger" this dialogue? If so, it’s totally normal, we spoke at a fairly rapid pace. You may have also noticed that Margo was saying “chui” instead of “je suis” and we said “chpeu” instead of “je peux”. Those are very common in spoken French.

Hold on tight, because there's more to come. Here are a few questions to help you practise and consolidate your vocabulary about working in team.

Let's get started!

🎯 Challenge (Helps you Retain New Vocab)

A. Find an antonym for each word and expression: (using the story text as a guide)

Example : une réponse ≠ une question

1. Lent ≠

2. Avoir le temps ≠

3. En bonne santé ≠

4. J’ai tout compris ≠

5. Individuel ≠

B. Find a synonym for each word and expression: (using the text as a guide)

Example : demander = poser une question

1. Le manager =

2. Prendre la place de =

3. J’ai des difficultés =

4. Comprendre =

5. Faire le bilan =

C.✍️Tell me a story about your work, boss or colleagues. Write in the comment section using some of the expressions seen in this dialogue.

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Et voilà ! That’s it for this little story and lesson about working on a team with the queen Margo. Hope you had fun reading and listening to this silly story as much as I did creating and recording it with

Margaret Hedderman

. And please, please, own these new words and expressions 🙏Play with them, speaking it, writing it…

By the way you can find the answers of the challenge questions down below.

If you enjoyed this story, found it entertaining and useful, you can support me by sharing it with your friends.

Belle journée / soirée à toi ! 🌈🌞 Et à bientôt ❤️

Yann et Margaret

Petit coucou de notre dernière balade à vélo

PS : If you need help with your French, feel free to send me a direct message or book a trial lesson using the button below.

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Challenge Answers :

A. 1. rapide - 2. être pressé - 3. être malade - 4. j’ai du mal à piger - 5. collectif

B. 1. le responsable - 2. remplacer - 3. j’ai du mal - 4. piger - 5. faire le point