📖LearnModule 15 · Lesson 12 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2 mastery — the capstoneUnit 3 · L'oral préparé
Ouvrir fort
Module 15 of the free French course (CEFR C2 mastery — the capstone), lesson 12 of 30: You have about fifteen seconds. 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 12.
The words
French
English
Say it
une question simple se pose
a simple question arises
ewn kehs-tyoh(n) sa(n)pl suh POHZ
personne n'y répond
nobody answers it
pehr-sohn nee ray-POH(n)
ouvrir
to open
oo-VREER
quinze secondes
fifteen seconds
ka(n)z suh-GOH(n)D
la seconde
the second
lah suh-GOH(n)D
savoir où vous allez
to know where you are going
sah-vwahr oo voo zah-LAY
fort dès le début
strong from the start
for deh luh day-BEW
l'ouverturefeminine — the article elides to l'
the opening
loo-vehr-TEWR
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
You have about fifteen seconds. Do not start with je vais vous parler de — start with the thing itself: une question simple se pose, et personne n'y répond.
Et aussi · And also
Then give the position in one sentence, and the plan in one more. Thirty seconds in, the room knows what you think and where you are going, which is the whole job of an opening.
Attention · Watch out
Never open with je vais vous parler de…: start with the thing itself — une question simple se pose, et personne n'y répond. se poser here means to arise, and the y in n'y répond stands for à cette question.
ouvrir — the table
je ouvre · tu ouvres · il/elle ouvre · nous ouvrons · vous ouvrez · ils/elles ouvrent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with une question simple se pose.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out ouvrir 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.