📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 12 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 3 · Le discours rapporté au passé
Hier devient la veille
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 12 of 30: Tenses are not the only thing that moves. 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 12.
The words
French
English
Say it
ce jour-là
that day
suh zhoor LAH
la veille
the day before
lah VEHY
le lendemain
the following day
luh lah(n)d-MA(n)
la semaine suivante
the following week
lah suh-mehn swee-VAH(n)T
trois jours plus tôt
three days earlier
trwah zhoor plew TOH
alors
at that time
ah-LOR
le repère
the reference point
luh ruh-PEHR
glisser
to slide
glee-SAY
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
Tenses are not the only thing that moves. Time words shift too, because the reporting happens later: aujourd'hui becomes ce jour-là, hier becomes la veille, demain becomes le lendemain.
Et aussi · And also
Maintenant becomes alors, la semaine prochaine becomes la semaine suivante, il y a trois jours becomes trois jours plus tôt. Learn them as pairs and reported speech stops being frightening.
Attention · Watch out
hier becomes la veille, demain becomes le lendemain, aujourd'hui becomes ce jour-là, maintenant becomes alors — only when the reporting is in the PAST.
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 ce jour-là.
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.