📖LearnModule 15 · Lesson 25 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2 mastery — the capstoneUnit 5 · La grammaire de la précision
Le mot juste, une dernière fois
Module 15 of the free French course (CEFR C2 mastery — the capstone), lesson 25 of 30: Fifth and last: the almost-right word. 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 mot juste
the right word
luh moh ZHEWST
presque juste mais non
almost right but not
prehsk zhewst meh NOH(n)
sonner un peu faux
to feel slightly off
soh-nay uh(n) puh FOH
changer le verbe
to change the verb
shah(n)-zhay luh VEHRB
la précision du verbe
the precision of the verb
lah pray-see-zyoh(n) dew VEHRB
seule la lecture
only reading
suhl lah lehk-TEWR
rien d'incorrect
nothing incorrect
rya(n) da(n)-koh-REHKT
ce qu'un Français aurait dit
what a French writer would have said
suh kuh(n) frah(n)-seh oh-reh DEE
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
Fifth and last: the almost-right word. At C2 nothing is ungrammatical; things are merely not what a French writer would have said, and only reading fixes that.
Et aussi · And also
The practical version: when a sentence feels slightly off, it usually is. Change the verb before you change the structure — in French, the verb is where the precision lives.
Attention · Watch out
When a sentence sonne un peu faux, change the VERB before the structure — in French the precision lives in the verb. rien d'incorrect: after rien, an adjective always takes de.
servir — the table
je sers · tu sers · il/elle sert · nous servons · vous servez · ils/elles servent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le mot juste.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out servir 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.