📖LearnModule 8 · Lesson 18 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, first halfUnit 4 · L'environnement et la société
La société
Module 8 of the free French course (CEFR B2, first half), lesson 18 of 30: Social vocabulary in French leans on a few abstract nouns that English mostly shares: l'égalité. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 18.
The words
French
English
Say it
l'égalitéfeminine — the article elides to l'
equality
lay-gah-lee-TAY
la citoyenneté
citizenship
lah see-twah-yehn-TAY
le bénévolat
voluntary work
luh bay-nay-voh-LAH
l'associationfeminine — the article elides to l'
the non-profit organization
lah-soh-syah-SYOH(n)
la justice
justice
lah zhews-TEES
la liberté
freedom
lah lee-behr-TAY
le citoyen
the citizen
luh see-twah-YA(n)
engagé
committed to a cause
ah(n)-gah-ZHAY
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
Social vocabulary in French leans on a few abstract nouns that English mostly shares: l'égalité, la liberté, la justice, la citoyenneté (citizenship). What English does not have is le bénévolat — unpaid voluntary work, a word the French use constantly.
Et aussi · And also
Une association here is a non-profit organization, not a club in the loose English sense; if a text says il est bénévole dans une association, it means he volunteers for a charity.
Attention · Watch out
une association is a non-profit organization, not a loose club. le bénévolat is voluntary work; le bénévole is the volunteer.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with l'égalité.
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 18 in Module 8 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.