📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 4 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 1 · Les niveaux de langue
Le soutenu à voix haute
Module 14 of the free French course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 4 of 30: Elevated French is not only written. 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 4.
The words
French
English
Say it
je tiens à vous remercier
I should like to thank you
zhuh tya(n) ah voo ruh-mehr-SYAY
c'est un honneur
it is an honor
seh tuh(n) noh-NUHR
permettez-moi de dire un mot
allow me to say a word
pehr-meh-tay mwah duh deer uh(n) MOH
le discours
the speech
luh dees-KOOR
tenir à
to be keen to
tuh-neer AH
le mariage
the wedding
luh mah-RYAHZH
le rythme lent
the slow rhythm
luh reetm LAH(n)
solennel
solemn
soh-lah-NEHL
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
Elevated French is not only written. A speech, a toast, a eulogy, a formal thank-you all use it out loud: je tiens à vous remercier, c'est un honneur, permettez-moi de dire un mot.
Et aussi · And also
The markers are the vous, the full ne...pas, the inversion in questions, and a slower rhythm. Nobody speaks this way at dinner; everybody recognizes it at a wedding.
Attention · Watch out
je tiens à vous remercier is a fixed opener: tenir à here means to be keen to, not to hold. Keep the full ne… pas and the vous in a speech, even to people you tutoie at the table.
tenir — the table
je tiens · tu tiens · il/elle tient · nous tenons · vous tenez · ils/elles tiennent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with je tiens à vous remercier.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out tenir 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.