📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 21 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 5 · Les figures de style
L'ironie
Module 13 of the free French course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 21 of 30: French irony is drier than English and rarely signposted. 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 21.
The words
French
English
Say it
c'est réussi
nicely done (ironic)
seh ray-ew-SEE
on ne peut pas dire qu'il se soit fatigué
he can hardly be said to have exerted himself
oh(n) nuh puh pah deer keel suh swah fah-tee-GAY
l'ironiefeminine — the article elides to l'
irony
lee-roh-NEE
réussir
to succeed
ray-ew-SEER
le décalage
the mismatch
luh day-kah-LAHZH
le compliment
the compliment
luh koh(n)-plee-MAH(n)
sec dans le ton
dry in tone
sehk dah(n) luh TOH(n)
à l'envers du sens
the wrong way round
ah lah(n)-vehr dew SAH(n)S
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
French irony is drier than English and rarely signposted. C'est réussi — said of a disaster. Bravo — said to someone who has just broken something. On ne peut pas dire qu'il se soit fatigué.
Et aussi · And also
The marker is usually a mismatch between register and situation: a formal compliment about a trivial failure. Miss it and you have read the sentence backwards.
Attention · Watch out
c'est réussi said of a disaster is irony; the tell is the mismatch between register and situation. Miss it and you have read the sentence backwards.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with c'est réussi.
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 21 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.