📖LearnModule 11 · Lesson 5 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, first halfUnit 1 · Le registre — the written voice
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Module 11 of the free French course (CEFR C1, first half), lesson 5 of 30: A literary paragraph, with the two written pasts at work: Il faisait nuit. On this page: 7 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 5.
The words
French
English
Say it
il faisait nuit
it was night
eel fuh-zeh NWEE
la ville dormait
the town was sleeping
lah veel dor-MEH
une porte s'ouvrit
a door opened (literary)
ewn port soo-VREE
sombre
dark, gloomy
soh(n)br
personne ne le vit
nobody saw him (literary)
pehr-sun nuh luh VEE
le manteau sombre
the dark coat
luh mah(n)-toh SOH(n)BR
l'ombrefeminine — the article elides to l'
the shadow
loh(n)br
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
A literary paragraph, with the two written pasts at work: Il faisait nuit. La ville dormait. Soudain, une porte s'ouvrit et un homme sortit. Il portait un manteau sombre. Personne ne le vit.
Et aussi · And also
The imparfait still paints (il faisait, la ville dormait, il portait); the passé simple fires the events (s'ouvrit, sortit, vit). Same machine as B1 — different clothes.
Attention · Watch out
personne ne le vit: in the literary past personne still carries its ne, and vit here is voir (he saw), not vivre. Tense and verb both hide in the form.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il faisait nuit.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 5 in Module 11 are the written half of this page.
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.