LearnModule 5 · Lesson 22 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2 mastery + the B1 bridgeUnit 5 · Exam training

Reading the letter

Module 5 of the free French course (CEFR A2 mastery + the B1 bridge), lesson 22 of 30: The exam's longer read is a friendly letter or email. On this page: 6 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 22.

The words

French	English	Say it
chère Emma	dear Emma (f)	shehr eh-MAH
je ne peux pas venir	I cannot come	zhuh nuh puh pah vuh-NEER
libre	free (available)	leebr
tu es libre?	are you free?	tew eh LEEBR
bises	kisses (sign-off)	beez
l'après-midimasculine — the article elides to l'	the afternoon	lah-preh-mee-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

The exam's longer read is a friendly letter or email. Read for the FIVE facts every task asks: who writes, to whom, what is happening, when, and what the reader must do.

Et aussi · And also

Chère Emma, merci pour ton invitation! Je ne peux pas venir samedi parce que nous allons chez ma grand-mère. Est-ce que tu es libre dimanche après-midi? Réponds-moi vite! Bises, Léa.

Attention · Watch out

chère Emma takes the accent and the -e for a girl or a woman; cher Tom for a boy or a man. The sign-off bises has no accent.

Do it now — on paper

Say all 6 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with chère Emma.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 22 in Module 5 are the written half of this page.

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.

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