📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 4 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 1 · La langue littéraire
La voix du récit classique
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 4 of 30: Classical narrative has a voice as recognizable as a font: simple past for events. 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 4.
The words
French
English
Say it
il crut entendre un bruit
he thought he heard a noise
eel krew ah(n)-tah(n)dr uh(n) BRWEE
le narrateur
the narrator
luh nah-rah-TUHR
se recoucher
to go back to bed
suh ruh-koo-SHAY
la syntaxe
the syntax
lah sa(n)-TAHKS
reconnaissable
recognizable
ruh-koh-neh-SAHBL
en savoir plus
to know more
ah(n) sah-vwahr PLEW
dépouillé
stripped back
day-poo-YAY
la voix narrative
the narrative voice
lah vwah nah-rah-TEEV
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
Classical narrative has a voice as recognizable as a font: simple past for events, imparfait for everything around them, and a narrator who knows more than the characters do.
Et aussi · And also
Il crut entendre un bruit. Ce n'était rien. Il se recoucha, mais ne dormit plus. Notice how short the sentences are — the register is elevated, the syntax is not.
Attention · Watch out
il crut entendre un bruit: croire + infinitive is to think one hears. The register is elevated and the syntax short — length is not what makes prose literary.
croire, imparfait — the table
je croyais · tu croyais · il/elle croyait · nous croyions · vous croyiez · ils/elles croyaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il crut entendre un bruit.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out croire, imparfait 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.