📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 11 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 3 · Les connecteurs rares
Or — the connector English lacks
Module 13 of the free French course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 11 of 30: Or introduces the fact that changes everything. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 11.
The words
French
English
Say it
or
now (introducing a key fact)
or
le témoin
the witness
luh tay-MWA(n)
mentir
to lie
mah(n)-TEER
la prémisse
the premise
lah pray-MEES
gênant
inconvenient
zheh-NAH(n)
absent
absent
ahb-SAH(n)
la forme du raisonnement
the shape of the reasoning
lah form dew reh-zohn-MAH(n)
indispensable
indispensable
a(n)-dees-pah(n)-SAHBL
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
Or introduces the fact that changes everything. It is not however and not now; it is the second premise of an argument. Tous les témoins ont menti. Or, l'un d'eux était absent.
Et aussi · And also
French essays are built on it, and learners almost never use it because no English word maps onto it. Learn it as a SHAPE: statement, or + inconvenient fact, therefore conclusion.
Attention · Watch out
or introduces the fact that turns the argument: statement, or + inconvenient fact, conclusion. It is not 'now' in time and not 'however', and it takes a comma after it.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with or.
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 11 in Module 13 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.