📖LearnModule 6 · Lesson 1 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, first halfUnit 1 · Raconter — telling the past
Scene and event — the narration rule
Module 6 of the free French course (CEFR B1, first half), lesson 1 of 30: Welcome to the Independent band. On this page: 7 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 1.
The words
French
English
Say it
raconter
to tell a story
rah-koh(n)-TAY
l'histoirefeminine — the article elides to l'
the story
lees-TWAHR
je lisais
I was reading
zhuh lee-ZEH
il a ouvert la porte
he opened the door
eel ah oo-vehr lah PORT
il portait un cadeau
he was carrying a gift
eel por-teh uh(n) kah-DOH
le cadeau
the gift
luh kah-DOH
tout à coup
all of a sudden
too tah KOO
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
Welcome to the Independent band. Module 1 opens with the skill B1 is built on: telling what happened. The rule from the Basic summit still runs everything — the imparfait paints the scene, the passé composé fires the events.
Et aussi · And also
Hier soir, je lisais dans ma chambre quand mon frère a ouvert la porte. Il portait un cadeau! Reading was the scene; opening the door was the event.
Attention · Watch out
The scene verb is imparfait (je lisais), the event verb is passé composé (il a ouvert). Swap them and the story changes meaning.
faire, imparfait — the table
je faisais · tu faisais · il/elle faisait · nous faisions · vous faisiez · ils/elles faisaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with raconter.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out faire, imparfait 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.