📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 19 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 4 · Rapporter ce qu'on dit
The words that have to change
Module 7 of the free French course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 19 of 30: When you report someone, four kinds of word shift. 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 19.
The words
French
English
Say it
mon frère
my brother
moh(n) FREHR
son frère
his brother
soh(n) FREHR
chez moi
at my place
shay MWAH
le possessif
the possessive
luh poh-seh-SEEF
changer
to change
shah(n)-ZHAY
le changement
the change
luh shah(n)zh-MAH(n)
là-bas
over there
lah BAH
attentivement
carefully
ah-tah(n)-teev-MAH(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
When you report someone, four kinds of word shift. The person: je becomes il or elle. The possessive: mon becomes son. The listener: tu becomes the person spoken to. And here becomes there.
Et aussi · And also
Paul me dit: « Je viens chez toi avec mon frère. » Reported: Paul me dit qu'il vient chez moi avec son frère. Read it twice — every word that moved did so for a reason you can name.
Attention · Watch out
In reported speech chez toi becomes chez moi when the listener is now you, and mon becomes son. Read every changed word twice — each moved for a reason.
dire, imparfait — the table
je disais · tu disais · il/elle disait · nous disions · vous disiez · ils/elles disaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with mon frère.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out dire, 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.