📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 25 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 5 · La nuance
Quand ne pas traduire
Module 14 of the free French course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 25 of 30: Some things should stay in French, and a C2 speaker knows which. 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 25.
The words
French
English
Say it
le terroir
the character a place gives its produce
luh teh-RWAHR
le Conseil d'État
the Council of State
luh koh(n)-sehy day-TAH
la note de bas de page
the footnote
lah noht duh bah duh PAHZH
gloser
to gloss
gloh-ZAY
le nom propre
the proper name
luh noh(n) PROHPR
le climat
the climate
luh klee-MAH
laisser en français
to leave in French
leh-say ah(n) frah(n)-SEH
culturel
cultural
kewl-tew-REHL
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
Some things should stay in French, and a C2 speaker knows which. Proper names of institutions (le Conseil d'État), cultural terms with no equivalent (le terroir), and quotations.
Et aussi · And also
The rule of thumb: if translating it would require a footnote anyway, leave it and gloss it in a clause. Le terroir — the soil, the climate and the habits of a place, all at once.
Attention · Watch out
le Conseil d'État, le terroir and quotations stay in French and are glossed in a clause, never in a footnote. le terroir is not the terrain: it is the soil, the climate and the habits of a place, together.
venir, subjonctif passé — the table
il soit venu · elle soit venue · ils soient venus · elles soient venues
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le terroir.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out venir, subjonctif passé 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.