📖LearnModule 10 · Lesson 3 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridgeUnit 1 · Les trois passés, en contraste
Raconter un souvenir
Module 10 of the free French course (CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge), lesson 3 of 30: The memory is the friendliest B2 writing task. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 3.
The words
French
English
Say it
quand j'étais petit
when I was small
kah(n) zhay-teh puh-TEE
le souvenir
the memory
luh soo-vuh-NEER
le grenier
the attic
luh gruh-NYAY
la boîte
the box
lah BWAHT
passer l'été
to spend the summer
pah-say lay-TAY
de la même façon
in the same way
duh lah mehm fah-SOH(n)
vieux
old
vyuh
émouvant
moving
ay-moo-VAH(n)
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
The memory is the friendliest B2 writing task, because the tenses do the organizing for you. Set the scene in the imparfait, put the one thing that happened in the passé composé, and end with what it meant.
Et aussi · And also
Quand j'étais petit, nous passions l'été chez ma grand-mère. Un jour, j'ai trouvé une boîte dans le grenier. Depuis, je ne regarde plus les vieilles maisons de la même façon.
Attention · Watch out
quand j'étais petit takes the imparfait (petite for a female speaker); the one thing that happened — un jour, j'ai trouvé — takes the passé composé.
avoir, imparfait — the table
je avais · tu avais · il/elle avait · nous avions · vous aviez · ils/elles avaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with quand j'étais petit.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out avoir, imparfait in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.