📖LearnModule 15 · Lesson 4 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2 mastery — the capstoneUnit 1 · La synthèse de documents
Tenir la longueur
Module 15 of the free French course (CEFR C2 mastery — the capstone), lesson 4 of 30: A synthesis has a word limit and it is enforced. 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
la limite de mots
the word limit
lah lee-meet duh MOH
couper une idée entière
to cut a whole idea
koo-pay ewn ee-day ah(n)-TYEHR
répartir les mots
to allocate the words
ray-pahr-teer lay MOH
compter en écrivant
to count as you write
koh(n)-tay ah(n) nay-kree-VAH(n)
la section pleine
the full section
lah sehk-syoh(n) PLEHN
appliqué strictement
strictly enforced
ah-plee-kay streek-tuh-MAH(n)
la compression
the compression
lah koh(n)-preh-SYOH(n)
pratique au quotidien
practical day to day
prah-teek oh koh-tee-DYA(n)
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
A synthesis has a word limit and it is enforced. The discipline is to cut whole ideas rather than to compress every sentence: a shortened paragraph reads worse than a missing one.
Et aussi · And also
Count as you go. Write the plan, allocate the words per section, and stop when a section is full. This is the single most practical habit in the unit.
Attention · Watch out
Cut whole IDEAS, never a few words from every sentence: a shortened paragraph reads worse than a missing one. tenir la longueur is to keep to the length — tenir is irregular: je tiens, nous tenons, ils tiennent.
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 la limite de mots.
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.