📖LearnModule 10 · Lesson 5 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridgeUnit 1 · Les trois passés, en contraste
Résumer une histoire
Module 10 of the free French course (CEFR B1 + B2 mastery, and the C1 bridge), lesson 5 of 30: . 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 5.
The words
French
English
Say it
un homme perd son travail
a man loses his job
uh(n) nohm pehr soh(n) trah-VAHY
l'intriguefeminine — the article elides to l'
the plot
la(n)-TREEG
le personnage
the character in a story
luh pehr-soh-NAHZH
la fin
the ending
lah FA(n)
perdre
to lose
pehrdr
décider
to decide
day-see-DAY
au présent
in the present tense
oh pray-ZAH(n)
captivant
gripping
kahp-tee-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
Summarizing a film or a book is a standard B2 speaking and writing task, and it has one counter-intuitive rule: tell it in the PRESENT. Un homme perd son travail. Il décide de partir.
Et aussi · And also
The present is the convention for plot in French as in English, and switching to the past mid-summary is the giveaway of an unpracticed writer. Keep the past for your own memories, not for the story's.
Attention · Watch out
Summarize a plot in the PRESENT: un homme perd son travail. Switching to the past mid-summary is the giveaway of an unpracticed writer. le personnage is a character in a story.
vivre — the table
je vis · tu vis · il/elle vit · nous vivons · vous vivez · ils/elles vivent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with un homme perd son travail.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out vivre 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.