📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 14 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 3 · La phrase soignée
La subordination en cascade
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 14 of 30: A formal French sentence can carry three clauses inside one another without collapsing. 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 14.
The words
French
English
Say it
la subordination
subordination
lah sewb-or-dee-nah-SYOH(n)
commander un rapport
to commission a report
koh-mah(n)-day uh(n) rah-POR
remettre
to hand in
ruh-MEHTR
maintenir
to uphold
ma(n)t-NEER
emboîté
nested
ah(n)-bwah-TAY
perdre le fil
to lose the thread
pehrdr luh FEEL
la charnière
the hinge
lah shahr-NYEHR
s'effondrer
to collapse
seh-foh(n)-DRAY
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 formal French sentence can carry three clauses inside one another without collapsing, because the connectors mark every joint. Bien que le rapport, qui avait été commandé en janvier, ne fût remis qu'en mars, la décision fut maintenue.
Et aussi · And also
Read it by its joints: bien que... qui... que... The skill is not writing sentences like that — it is not losing the thread while reading them.
Attention · Watch out
Read a long sentence by its joints: bien que... qui... que. The skill is not writing sentences like that; it is not losing the thread while reading them.
construire, voix passive — the table
il est construit · elle est construite · ils sont construits · elles sont construites
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with la subordination.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out construire, voix passive 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.