Francophones! Please Help!

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a dilemma which is generating an embarrassingly simple French question: my francophone SO is spending a week with her non-anglophone parents. I speak some rudimentary French, but have no idea about the proper telephone etiquette, should (gasp) my SO not be the one to answer the phone the first time I call, and I have to speak to her mother. So my question: what are the standard equivalents of

“Hello, this is Don Roberto. May I please speak with …”

and in case she is not there,

“Could you please tell her that Don Roberto called?”

I humbly thank you all in advance for your infinite wisdom, patience, and quick replies.

2

  1. Bon jour. Je m’appelle Don Roberto. Pourrais-je parler avec…

  2. Pourriez-vous lui dire que je lui ai telefoner? Merci beaucoup. Au revoir.

3

Pronuncuation guide (a bit northern/parisian accent):

  1. Bowhnzhoor. Zhe mah-pel Don Roberto. Poor-ayzh’pahrlay aveck

  2. Pooreeyay-voo louie deer kuuh zhe louie ay taylayfohnay? Mayer-cee bohcoop. Oh rehvwahr.

[sub]My head hurts…[/sub]

4

Merci beaucoup.

5

Actually, you normally don’t say “bonjour” on the phone – the correct phone salutation is “allo.”

My French is a bit too rusty to correct the rest. It’s been a few years since the phone etiquette unit in Conversational French… :wink:

6

Thanks, I wasn’t up to it… :smiley:

7

Salut. Je ne suis pas francaise, je suis stupide americaine. Je ne suis pas francophone.

All you need to know… :wink:

8

Don’t say that, Don Roberto. In case you don’t know, that means: “Hello. I’m not French, I’m [a] stupid American, I am not a Francophone.”

F_X

9

And Blackeyes was also referring to you as female. (I think… it’s been years since French class in college) I’d hope you’re not a female!

F_X

10

Not because I necessarily have anything against lesbian relationships, but if your SO thinks you’re a male, and then you bust out the “feminine” endings to words… :eek:

F_X

11

Whoops. I remember reading the OP and understanding you were a guy, but for some reason somewhere in the post I was writing you turned into a woman. Mea culpa.

12

<nitpick>
Pourriez-vous lui dire que je lui ai téléfoné?

(But does téléphoné have to agree with the antecedent lui (the second lui, that is)? That, I don’t remember.

And I apologize in advance for any errors I made in posting this nitpick!

</nitpick>

13

You didn’t specify what type of Francophone she was. If she is from Québec, a better way to say it would be :

[quote]
**
“Hello, this is Don Roberto. May I please speak with …”**

[quote]

Allo, ici Don Roberto, Est-ce que je peux parler avec…

Pouvez-vous lui dire que j’ai appelé ?

14

Thank you, detop, she is in fact Quebecoise.

Many thanks as well to everyone else who responded, with the possible exception of Blackeyes.

I do actually speak some French, but had never even thought about proper telephone etiquette (much less learned any) until now. Again, thanks.

15

You’re very welcome Don Roberto. I know it’s a small thing to mention the type of Francophone, but they’re is so much diversity amongst French-speakers that it is useful to mention the origin.

16

Well you can say Bonjour and not “allo” as you’re not picking up the phone.
You will be greeted by “allo?”
You can say, “Bonjour, c’est Don, Puis je parler a …?”
If she isn’t there “Pouvez vous lui dire que Don a appele? Merci”.
I think it’s the simpler.

Archergal, telephone (I can’t do the accent!), will agree with “je” in the case you mentioned, not “lui”.

17

:stuck_out_tongue:

18

Which is how I probably would have said it, but he asked for a translation, doncha know…