📖LearnModule 13 · Lesson 24 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, first halfUnit 5 · Les figures de style
La métaphore
Module 13 of the free French course (CEFR C2, first half), lesson 24 of 30: French metaphor is often architectural or maritime. 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 24.
The words
French
English
Say it
le fil du raisonnement
the thread of the argument
luh feel dew reh-zohn-MAH(n)
jeter les bases
to lay the foundations
zhuh-tay lay BAHZ
naviguer à vue
to make it up as you go
nah-vee-gay ah VEW
une pluie de critiques
a barrage of criticism
ewn plwee duh kree-TEEK
la métaphore
the metaphor
lah may-tah-FOR
la comparaison
the simile
lah koh(n)-pah-reh-ZOH(n)
jeter
to throw
zhuh-TAY
maritime
maritime
mah-ree-TEEM
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 metaphor is often architectural or maritime, and the dead ones are worth knowing: le fil du raisonnement, jeter les bases, prendre le large, naviguer à vue.
Et aussi · And also
A comparison announces itself with comme or tel; a metaphor does not. Une pluie de critiques is a metaphor and no French reader notices — which is exactly when it works.
Attention · Watch out
A comparison announces itself with comme or tel; a metaphor does not. jeter les bases is a dead metaphor, safe to use; une pluie de critiques works because nobody notices it.
jeter — the table
je jette · tu jettes · il/elle jette · nous jetons · vous jetez · ils/elles jettent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le fil du raisonnement.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out jeter 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.