📖LearnModule 7 · Lesson 27 of 30Independent User · CEFR B1, completedUnit 6 · Lire et écrire au niveau B1
Écrire une lettre qui explique
Module 7 of the free French course (CEFR B1, completed), lesson 27 of 30: . 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 27.
The words
French
English
Say it
Madame, Monsieur
Dear Sir or Madam
mah-dahm muh-SYUH
je vous écris au sujet de
I am writing to you about
zhuh voo zay-kree oh sew-ZHEH duh
mes salutations distinguées
sincerely yours (formal close)
may sah-lew-tah-syoh(n) dees-ta(n)-GAY
la lettre formelle
the formal letter
lah lehtr for-MEHL
le paragraphe
the paragraph
luh pah-rah-GRAHF
la formule de politesse
the closing formula
lah for-mewl duh poh-lee-TEHS
joindre
to attach
zhwa(n)dr
la pièce jointe
the attachment
lah PYEHS ZHWA(n)T
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 formal French letter has a shape you can learn once and use forever: Madame, Monsieur, then why you are writing, then the detail, then a closing formula. The formula is longer than English and nobody shortens it.
Et aussi · And also
Je vous écris au sujet de... opens it. Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, mes salutations distinguées closes it. In between, one idea per paragraph.
Attention · Watch out
Madame, Monsieur with the comma is the neutral opening when you do not know the reader. The closing formula is one fixed sentence: change no word of it.
écrire — the table
je écris · tu écris · il/elle écrit · nous écrivons · vous écrivez · ils/elles écrivent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with Madame, Monsieur.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out écrire 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.