📖LearnModule 8 · Lesson 27 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, first halfUnit 6 · Argumenter par écrit
Formel ou familier ?
Module 8 of the free French course (CEFR B2, first half), lesson 27 of 30: Register is the B2 skill nobody teaches explicitly. 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
familier
informal
fah-mee-LYAY
formel
formal
for-MEHL
pouvez-vous m'aider ?
can you help me?
poo-vay voo meh-DAY
je vous serais reconnaissant
I would be grateful to you
zhuh voo suh-reh ruh-koh-neh-SAH(n)
la cohérence
the consistency
lah koh-ay-RAH(n)S
le ton
the tone
luh TOH(n)
tutoyer
to address as tu
tew-twah-YAY
vouvoyer
to address as vous
voo-vwah-YAY
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
Register is the B2 skill nobody teaches explicitly. The same request has three shapes: tu peux m'aider? (a friend), pouvez-vous m'aider? (a stranger), je vous serais reconnaissant de bien vouloir m'aider (an official letter).
Et aussi · And also
Mixing them is the giveaway. Choose one register at the top of a text and hold it to the end — that consistency is what an examiner is reading for.
Attention · Watch out
tutoyer and vouvoyer are verbs: on se tutoie ? asks whether to use tu. Choose one register at the top of a text and hold it to the end.
pouvoir — the table
je peux · tu peux · il/elle peut · nous pouvons · vous pouvez · ils/elles peuvent
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with familier.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out pouvoir 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.