📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 10 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 2 · Les expressions figées
Quand ne pas les employer
Module 14 of the free French course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 10 of 30: One idiom in a paragraph is a writer with an ear. 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 10.
The words
French
English
Say it
l'oreillefeminine — the article elides to l'
the ear
loh-REHY
le guide de conversation
the phrase book
luh geed duh koh(n)-vehr-sah-SYOH(n)
employer
to use
ah(n)-plwah-YAY
trop souvent
too often
troh soo-VAH(n)
une fois par paragraphe
once per paragraph
ewn fwah pahr pah-rah-GRAHF
la note de synthèse
the briefing note
lah noht duh sa(n)-TEHZ
changer en cours de route
to change partway through
shah(n)-zhay ah(n) koor duh ROOT
plus grave
more serious
plew GRAHV
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
One idiom in a paragraph is a writer with an ear. Three is a phrase book. Nothing marks a non-native faster than an expression used correctly but too often.
Et aussi · And also
And never in a formal report. A note de synthèse containing ce n'est pas de la tarte has changed register mid-document, which at C2 is a harder error than a grammatical one.
Attention · Watch out
One idiom per paragraph at most, and none in a report or a note de synthèse. employer here is to use (a word); to hire someone is embaucher.
employer — the table
je emploie · tu emploies · il/elle emploie · nous employons · vous employez · ils/elles emploient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with l'oreille.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out employer 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.