Module 5 of the free French course (CEFR A2 mastery + the B1 bridge), lesson 29 of 30: The connectors that make B1 sentences breathe: quand (when), si (if), parce que. 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 29.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| si | if | see |
| si tu veux | if you want | see tew VUH |
| donc | so / therefore | doh(n)k |
| pourtant | yet / however | poor-TAH(n) |
| quand il pleut, je lis | when it rains, I read | kah(n) teel pluh zhuh LEE |
| peut-être | maybe | puh-TETR |
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.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
The connectors that make B1 sentences breathe: quand (when), si (if), parce que, donc (so), mais, et pourtant (and yet). Quand il pleut, je lis. Si tu veux, on va au parc.
You already own every word in those sentences. The Independent band teaches the weaving.
si (if) never takes the future straight after it: si tu veux, never si tu voudras. And donc means so or therefore, never 'then' in time.
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.
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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