Some Activities to Make Learning French More Engaging / Level B2-C1
Here’s a song performed by Jo Dassin, a perfectly bilingual singer. The French version is particularly useful for practicing verb tense agreement with our students: “Si + imperfect / present conditional.”
Here’s a video of this song so you can hum along:
As a fun fact, this song was performed by Joe Dassin during the first color broadcast on TF1, on December 20, 1975, for the show *Numéro un*.
After a promotional release in 1975 aimed primarily at jukebox operators, “Et si tu n’existais pas” appeared only as the B-side of the single “Salut,” which was released on March 24, 1976, by CBS Records. And as is often the case, it was a song considered minor—merely intended to “fill out” the B-side of a single—that would nevertheless go on to become an internationally renowned hit.
On July 6, 1976, Joe Dassin also recorded it in Spanish under the title “Y si tu no has de volver.” This version was released the same year as a 45 rpm single by Discos CBS in Argentina and Chile, with the French version on the B-side, and reached number 16 on the Argentine charts. In Spain, it was released in 1977 under the title “Y si no existieras.”
You can ask your students if they were familiar with it and what memories come to mind when they listen to it again.
WHAT IF YOU DIDN’T EXIST
Music by Salvatore Cutugno and Pasquale Losito; lyrics by Pierre Delanoë and Claude
Lemesle (1975)
What If You Didn’t Exist
Tell me why I’d exist
To wander through a world without you
Without hope and without regret
And if you didn’t exist
I’d try to invent love
Like a painter who sees, beneath his fingers,
The colors of the day come to life
And can’t believe his eyes
And if you didn’t exist
Tell me, for whom would I exist?
For the passersby asleep in my arms
Whom I would never love
And if you didn’t exist
I’d be just another speck
In this world that comes and goes
I’d feel lost
I’d need you
And if you didn’t exist
Tell me how I would exist
I could pretend to be myself
But I wouldn’t be real
And if you didn’t exist
I think I would have found it
The secret of life, the reason why
Simply to create you
And to watch you
And if you didn’t exist
Tell me why I’d exist
To wander through a world without you
Without hope and without regret
And if you didn’t exist
I’d try to invent love
Like a painter who sees, beneath his fingers,
The colors of the day come to life
On July 6, 1976, Joe Dassin also recorded it in Spanish under the title “Y si tu no has de volver.” This version was released the same year as a 45 rpm single by Discos CBS in Argentina and Chile, with the French version on the B-side, and reached No. 16 on the Argentine charts. In Spain, it was released in 1977 under the title “Y si no existieras.”
Here is the Italian version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ctkg4Oim1wg
Now for a little basic grammar:
We use the structure “Si + verb in the imperfect tense, verb in the present conditional” to express a hypothesis.
Example: If I had a magic wand, I would change a lot of things.
The present conditional is formed based on the simple future tense but with the endings of the imperfect tense.
For example, the verb “to go” in the future tense: I’ll go. The verb “to go” in the conditional tense: I’d go.
I would go
You would go
He/She/One would go
We would go
You (plural) would go
They would go
A grammar exercise to review tense agreement:
https://www.francaisfacile.com/exercices/exercice-francais-2/exercice-francais-49330.php
Finally, here is the sheet music for a piano arrangement:
