📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 13 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 3 · La phrase soignée
La proposition participiale
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 13 of 30: Written French compresses a whole clause into a participle. 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 13.
The words
French
English
Say it
ayant terminé son travail
having finished his work
eh-yah(n) tehr-mee-nay soh(n) trah-VAHY
une fois la porte fermée
once the door was closed
ewn fwah lah port fehr-MAY
la proposition participiale
the participial clause
lah proh-poh-zee-syoh(n) pahr-tee-see-PYAHL
comprimer
to compress
koh(n)-pree-MAY
économique
economical
ay-koh-noh-MEEK
appartenir à
to belong to
ah-pahr-tuh-neer AH
strict
strict
streekt
le silence revint
silence returned (literary)
luh see-lah(n)s ruh-VA(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
Written French compresses a whole clause into a participle. Ayant terminé son travail, il sortit. Une fois la porte fermée, le silence revint.
Et aussi · And also
It is the single most economical device in formal French, and the rule is strict: a participial clause either has a subject of its own (une fois la porte fermée, le silence revint) or, when it has none, its participle belongs to the subject of the main clause — otherwise the sentence dangles exactly as it would in English.
Attention · Watch out
The participle of a participial clause must belong to the subject of the main clause: ayant terminé son travail, il sortit. Otherwise the sentence dangles.
finir — the table
je finis · tu finis · il/elle finit · nous finissons · vous finissez · ils/elles finissent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with ayant terminé 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 finir 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.