📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 17 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 4 · La pensée et l'éthique
L'éthique
Module 13 of the free French course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 17 of 30: Ethical vocabulary is where French and English look identical and behave differently. 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 17.
The words
French
English
Say it
le devoir moral
moral duty
luh duh-vwahr moh-RAHL
la responsabilité
responsibility
lah rehs-poh(n)-sah-bee-lee-TAY
la dignité
dignity
lah dee-nyee-TAY
l'éthiquefeminine — the article elides to l'
ethics
lay-TEEK
la morale
morality
lah moh-RAHL
le code professionnel
the professional code
luh kohd proh-feh-syoh-NEHL
technique dans le choix
technical by choice
tehk-neek dah(n) luh SHWAH
le poids juridique
the legal weight
luh pwah zhew-ree-DEEK
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
Ethical vocabulary is where French and English look identical and behave differently. Le devoir is duty; la responsabilité is both responsibility and liability; la dignité carries legal weight in France that it does not in English.
Et aussi · And also
La morale is the moral of a story or personal morality; l'éthique is the discipline and the professional code. A text that says éthique is being technical on purpose.
Attention · Watch out
la morale is personal morality or a story's moral; l'éthique is the discipline and the professional code. la responsabilité is both responsibility and legal liability.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le devoir moral.
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 17 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.