# EP 5 | Qu’est-ce que je préfère et pourquoi ? (What do I prefer and why?)

An episode of [The Learn French With Alexa Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/120975641), 25 Jun 2026, 17 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/113190190/podcast/play/121831243/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-22%2F426616033-44100-2-023ed88b181c.mp3

In today's episode of Learn French with Fun Facts, Alexa talks about which animals she prefers and why. Practise listening to easy A1/A2 level French and learn more about one of the most renowned French teachers on YouTube!

## Transcript

[0:00] Bonjour et bienvenue au podcast de Learn French with Alexa.
[0:05] In today's podcast, which is number five, it's all about les
[0:09] animaux. Can you understand "les
[0:12] animaux"? Les animaux means animals.
[0:14] So I'm going to read you a short passage in French, of course,
[0:19] based on a fun fact about me, Alexa Polidoro.
[0:23] This passage is of A1, A2 level. So you are going to practice
[0:30] your listening, but also learn a little bit about the French
[0:34] grammar. Now, the focus of this text
[0:36] today is adjectives. So we've got a series of
[0:41] adjectives in that text, and I'd like you to try to focus on
[0:45] them, not too much in the first reading, but why don't you try
[0:51] to spot them? After the first reading, I'm
[0:53] going to give you a question, which I would like you to
[0:59] answer. But first of all, let me read
[1:02] the passage or text once. Écoutez attentivement.
[1:09] J'aime beaucoup les chiens, mais je préfère les chats.
[1:14] Pourquoi ? Parce que les chats sont plus
[1:18] indépendants. À la maison, j'ai deux chats.
[1:23] Ils sont tous les deux gris. Le premier s'appelle Max.
[1:27] C'est un mâle. Il a les poils longs, et il est
[1:32] très doux. Le deuxième s'appelle Rose.
[1:37] C'est une femelle. Elle a les poils courts, et elle
[1:42] est très curieuse. Ils sont adorables.
[1:46] Ils jouent avec ou sans moi, et dorment beaucoup.
[1:51] Les chiens, c'est différent. Il faut les sortir au moins
[1:55] trois fois par jour, et leur donner beaucoup d'attention pour
[2:00] les stimuler. Malheureusement, avec mon
[2:03] travail, je n'ai pas le temps de m'occuper d'un chien.
[2:07] Right. So we've read the text.
[2:09] How much of it did you understand?
[2:11] Did you manage to pick on the adjectives?
[2:14] It doesn't matter if you haven't.
[2:17] Now, here's the first question: Qu'est-ce que je préfère, et
[2:22] pourquoi ? Now remember, these are fun
[2:25] facts about me. Qu'est-ce que je préfère, et
[2:28] pourquoi ? So qu'est-ce que is what is it,
[2:32] that. Qu'est-ce que je préfère, I
[2:36] prefer, et pourquoi, and why. Qu'est-ce que je préfère, et
[2:41] pourquoi ? So can you tell me what I prefer
[2:45] and why? Et pourquoi.
[2:46] Listen to the text one more time.
[2:51] J'aime beaucoup les chiens, mais je préfère les chats.
[2:55] Pourquoi ? Parce que les chats sont plus
[2:58] indépendants. À la maison, j'ai deux chats.
[3:02] Ils sont tous les deux gris. Le premier s'appelle Max.
[3:05] C'est un mâle. Il a les poils longs, et il est
[3:09] très doux. Le deuxième s'appelle Rose.
[3:11] C'est une femelle. Elle a les poils courts, et elle
[3:15] est très curieuse. Ils sont adorables.
[3:18] Ils jouent avec ou sans moi, et dorment beaucoup.
[3:22] Les chiens, c'est différent. Il faut les sortir au moins
[3:27] trois fois par jour, et leur donner beaucoup d'attention pour
[3:30] les stimuler. Malheureusement, avec mon
[3:33] travail, je n'ai pas le temps de m'occuper d'un chien.
[3:38] So we've read this twice now. How clear was that?
[3:42] What are we talking about? Les animaux.
[3:45] It's obvious that I said the words "chien" and "chat" quite a
[3:48] few times. So chien is dog.
[3:52] Un chien is a dog. Les chiens are the dogs.
[3:57] Ou des chiens, dogs, with the indefinite article.
[4:04] So when I said "les", it means "the", it's a definite article.
[4:08] If I said "des", it's some dogs. It's an indefinite.
[4:12] Now, les chats are the cats. Le chat, as in the cat, is the
[4:19] singular form of les chats. Now, to answer the question:
[4:24] Qu'est-ce que je préfère, et pourquoi ?
[4:27] What do I prefer and why? Now, I prefer cats.
[4:33] Je préfère les chats. That's what I say.
[4:36] J'aime beaucoup les chiens. I like dogs.
[4:38] Mais je préfère les chats. But I prefer cats.
[4:43] And then I answer the "pourquoi".
[4:44] Pourquoi ? Parce que les chats sont plus
[4:48] indépendants. Because the cats are more
[4:52] independent. So that would have been the
[4:55] answer to the first question. I'm going to give you another
[4:58] one. Now, talking about the first
[5:01] question: Qu'est-ce que vous, vous préférez ?
[5:04] I'm asking you that, so you can leave a comment and tell me what
[5:07] you prefer. Qu'est-ce que vous préférez ou
[5:09] quel est votre animal domestique préféré ?
[5:12] What is your favorite pet? Could be a snake, un serpent.
[5:16] Could be spider, une araignée. Whatever you have, I don't know.
[5:20] Hamster, peut-être, ou cochon d'Inde.
[5:24] Anyway. Pour moi, mon animal domestique
[5:26] préféré ce sont... c'est le chat.
[5:30] Now, let's have a look at the second question.
[5:34] Pourquoi je n'ai pas de chien ? Again, it's about me.
[5:39] Pourquoi, why? Je n'ai pas, I do not have.
[5:44] J'ai is I have. Put that in a negation: I do not
[5:48] have. Je n'ai pas.
[5:50] Why don't I have dogs? Je n'ai pas de chien.
[5:54] When you don't have of something, it has to have "de"
[5:57] Par exemple, je n'ai pas de tasse pour mon café.
[6:02] Ou je n'ai pas de verre pour mon eau.
[6:06] Random Okay, answer this question: Pourquoi je n'ai pas
[6:10] de chien ? Why doesn't Alexa Polidoro have
[6:13] any dogs? Here's the full text again.
[6:18] J'aime beaucoup les chiens, mais je préfère les chats.
[6:22] Pourquoi ? Parce que les chats sont plus
[6:26] indépendants. À la maison, j'ai deux chats.
[6:29] Ils sont tous les deux gris. Le premier s'appelle Max.
[6:32] C'est un mâle. Il a les poils longs, et il est
[6:35] très doux. Le deuxième s'appelle Rose.
[6:38] C'est une femelle. Elle a les poils courts, et elle
[6:42] est très curieuse. Ils sont adorables.
[6:45] Ils jouent avec ou sans moi et dorment beaucoup.
[6:50] Les chiens, c'est différent. Il faut les sortir au moins
[6:54] trois fois par jour et leur donner beaucoup d'attention pour
[6:58] les stimuler. Malheureusement, avec mon
[7:00] travail, je n'ai pas le temps de m'occuper d'un chien.
[7:04] Okay, I think the last sentence answered the question: Pourquoi
[7:08] je n'ai pas de chien ? Why is it that I do not have a
[7:12] dog? Because je n'ai pas le temps de
[7:16] m'occuper d'un chien. Now, s'occuper de quelque chose
[7:21] means to look after something or someone.
[7:24] Okay? S'occuper d'un chien, it's to
[7:26] look after a dog. But je n'ai pas le temps, ne pas
[7:31] avoir de temps, avoir du temps, to have time.
[7:34] I do not have time to look after a dog.
[7:38] And that's why I don't have one. If I had a little bit more time,
[7:43] maybe it would be fun to have a dog, because you can walk them
[7:46] and so on. But for me, I do not have time
[7:50] to look after a dog. What about you?
[7:53] Do you have a dog? Vous avez un chien ?
[7:56] Or if you do not, why is it you do not have a dog?
[7:59] Pourquoi vous n'avez pas de chien ?
[8:02] Can you leave a comment and let me know?
[8:05] If you're enjoying learning French with me and would like to
[8:07] go even further, my certified complete French course brings
[8:12] everything together in one place.
[8:15] You'll have lessons, quizzes, and support guides to help you
[8:19] reach your goals. And it's all taught by me.
[8:22] Use code ALEXAPOD for 15% off. Now, here's the last reading,
[8:29] and we're going to focus on the adjectives, which you can find
[8:33] in lesson 13 in my full French course at Learn French with
[8:38] Alexa, the website .com. Okay.
[8:42] Listen very carefully. J'aime beaucoup les chiens, mais
[8:45] je préfère les chats. Okay, this is slightly faster
[8:48] now. It's easy.
[8:49] I like dogs a lot, but I prefer cats.
[8:52] Pourquoi ? Parce que les chats sont plus
[8:55] indépendants. Quite simply here, because cats
[8:57] are more independent. Have a look at the comparative:
[9:02] plus indépendants que les chiens.
[9:04] If you made the sentence, les chats sont plus indépendants que
[9:08] les chiens. Cats are more independent than
[9:10] the dogs. Now, indépendants is here an
[9:15] adjective. It has an S at the end, in case
[9:18] you are listening to me while walking the dog for example, and
[9:22] not reading the text. It has an S at the end,
[9:26] indépendants. Why is that?
[9:28] Because it refers to les chats. So indépendants is here plural
[9:34] masculine because chats is plural masculine.
[9:36] Now remember, all the adjectives have to agree in number and
[9:41] gender with the noun it refers to.
[9:43] So if your noun is feminine, then you need to make sure that
[9:48] your adjective is going to be feminine.
[9:50] If your noun is feminine plural, then you need to make sure the
[9:53] adjective reflects that, so it will have the ending of a
[9:57] feminine plural adjective. Now, let's carry on.
[10:00] À la maison, j'ai deux chats. At home, I have two cats.
[10:05] Ils sont tous les deux gris. And they both are gray.
[10:10] Gris. Okay?
[10:11] Ils sont tous les deux, both of them, tous les deux are gray.
[10:16] Ils sont tous les deux gris. Okay?
[10:18] Gris here keeps the same spelling, okay, because we're
[10:23] talking about the two cats here. Okay?
[10:25] And because these are plural, but gris has already an S, we
[10:29] are not adding another S to it. However, if it had been a gray
[10:34] cat, female cat, or chatte, okay, it would be grise, okay,
[10:38] with an -e. Now the first of my cats is
[10:43] called Max. Le premier s'appelle Max.
[10:46] C'est un mâle, he is a male cat. Il a les poils longs.
[10:51] So here's another adjective, longs.
[10:54] S at the end because poils is hair, and hair is masculine and
[10:59] plural here. So "longs" reflects that.
[11:03] Et il est très doux. And he's very soft.
[11:07] Max is very soft. Doux, D-O-U-X.
[11:10] Why? Because Max is a male cat.
[11:12] So we reflect that. Okay?
[11:15] Early on, les poils, the hairs, okay, are longs, with an S at
[11:20] the end because "longs" reflects les poils, not the cat.
[11:23] Okay? Now here, il est très doux.
[11:25] He's very soft. Doux.
[11:28] D-O-U-X. If it had been a female cat, we
[11:31] would have said "douce". Okay, C-E.
[11:33] It's one of those irregular adjectives.
[11:38] Most regular adjectives will end with an -e for the feminine
[11:45] version of this adjective. However, you've got quite a lot
[11:50] of irregular adjectives, such as doux, and curieux as well, by
[11:55] the way, which we are going to see in a minute.
[11:57] Okay? Le deuxième s'appelle Rose.
[12:00] So talking about the second cat. Le deuxième s'appelle, is called
[12:05] Rose. C'est une femelle.
[12:06] It's a female. Elle a les poils courts.
[12:10] Again, les poils is hair. She has, elle a.
[12:13] She. And by the way, the cats are she
[12:15] or he. Okay?
[12:17] They are not "it" in French. Okay?
[12:19] So she or he. Elle a les poils courts.
[12:22] She has short hair. "Courts", again, with an S, not
[12:26] "courte". Okay?
[12:27] Because poils is masculine plural in that case.
[12:32] Et elle est très curieuse. Now, "elle" referring to the
[12:37] female cat, Rose. She is very curious.
[12:41] Have a look at the way we spell "curieuse".
[12:43] Okay? Or let's listen to the way we
[12:46] say curieuse. It has an -e at the end because
[12:50] the female cat is "elle", and we need to reflect that with our
[12:55] adjective. So curieuse and not curieux with
[12:59] an X. Again, curieux and doux are both
[13:02] adjectives ending with an X in the masculine form.
[13:06] Ils sont adorables. Here is another adjective:
[13:10] adorables. "Adorables" ends with an S
[13:13] because we are talking about "ils sont".
[13:16] They are. Talking about both cats.
[13:19] Okay? And by the way, we don't say
[13:22] "elles sont" because of the fact that we have a female and a
[13:27] male. Grammatically speaking, the male
[13:30] is always stronger. Ils sont.
[13:33] They are. So we are using "ils" as the
[13:36] gender, the main, the strongest gender.
[13:39] They, ils. Ils jouent, they play, avec ou
[13:43] sans moi, with or without me, et dorment beaucoup, and they sleep
[13:48] a lot. Now, "dorment", if you're not
[13:51] seeing the text, ends with E-N-T because we are talking about
[13:55] they. In French, in the present tense,
[13:58] the ending for "ils" and "elles" is E-N-T: dorment.
[14:03] We don't say "dormant", but we say "dorment".
[14:06] Now, to finish my sentence here: Les chiens, c'est différent.
[14:10] Dogs, they're different. Il faut les sortir au moins
[14:14] trois fois par jour. One has to take them out.
[14:17] Il faut, it is necessary. Il faut les sortir au moins
[14:22] trois fois par jour et leur donner beaucoup d'attention pour
[14:25] les stimuler. And give them a lot of attention
[14:28] to stimulate them. So here we've got a lot of
[14:32] direct objects. So il faut les sortir.
[14:35] We have to take them out, and them here is before the verb.
[14:39] One has to them take out. Okay?
[14:43] Au moins, at least three times per day.
[14:46] Et leur donner. So donner à eux, so leur donner,
[14:51] to give them. To them give.
[14:54] Beaucoup d'attention, a lot of attention, pour les stimuler, to
[14:59] stimulate them. Again here, les stimuler.
[15:04] Now if you're not familiar with the direct object pronouns and
[15:08] indirect object pronouns, I cover these in great details in
[15:12] my course again. So check the full course outline
[15:15] on the website, learnfrenchwithexa.com.
[15:19] Malheureusement, avec mon travail, unfortunately with my
[15:23] job, je n'ai pas de temps de m'occuper d'un chien.
[15:27] Je n'ai pas le temps ou de temps.
[15:29] Je n'ai pas le temps. I do not have time to look after
[15:33] the dog. Okay?
[15:35] Of a dog. Mind you, saying that, you're
[15:36] going to think it could be in the office with me here, or in
[15:40] the studio. I might just ask my team: do you
[15:43] want a dog? Like a therapy dog or something,
[15:48] and see what they say. So this is the full text
[15:53] translated. We've covered some adjectives,
[15:56] okay? And we realize that some
[15:57] adjective or most of them have to agree in number and gender
[16:01] with the noun we are referring to.
[16:04] I hope you liked this exercise. Let us know in the comments if
[16:07] you're watching that somewhere on YouTube and/or talk to us by
[16:13] email at support@learnfrenchwithexa.com.
[16:17] Let us know how you feel about this format and this podcast.
[16:21] That is it for me. That is it for me.
[16:25] That's it for me. Au revoir.
[16:27] À bientôt. Bisou bisou.

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