📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 23 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 5 · Le vocabulaire abstrait
Les noms abstraits
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 23 of 30: Abstract nouns carry an argument in one word. 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 23.
The words
French
English
Say it
la portée
the significance
lah por-TAY
le constat
the finding
luh koh(n)-STAH
les modalitésplural
the practical arrangements
lay moh-dah-lee-TAY
le bien-fondé
the legitimacy
luh bya(n)-foh(n)-DAY
la mesure
the measure
lah muh-ZEWR
contestable
open to challenge
koh(n)-tehs-TAHBL
dense
dense
dah(n)s
ramasser en un mot
to compress into one word
rah-mah-say ah(n) nuh(n) MOH
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
Abstract nouns carry an argument in one word. La portée (the significance), le constat (the finding), la démarche (the approach), les modalités (the practical details), le bien-fondé (the legitimacy).
Et aussi · And also
Le bien-fondé de cette mesure est contestable packs a whole paragraph into six words. Collect them; they are what makes C1 prose dense rather than merely long.
Attention · Watch out
la portée is significance, not range, here; le constat is the finding; les modalités is always plural. le bien-fondé keeps its hyphen.
recevoir — the table
je reçois · tu reçois · il/elle reçoit · nous recevons · vous recevez · ils/elles reçoivent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with la portée.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out recevoir 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.