📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 15 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 3 · Le discours rapporté au passé
Un paragraphe rapporté
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 15 of 30: Now put it together. 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 15.
The words
French
English
Say it
il a expliqué qu'il était fatigué
he explained that he was tired
eel ah eks-plee-kay keel ay-teh fah-tee-GAY
j'ai répondu que je comprenais
I replied that I understood
zhay ray-poh(n)-dew kuh zhuh koh(n)-pruh-NEH
l'échangemasculine — the article elides to l'
the exchange
lay-SHAH(n)ZH
le dialogue
the dialogue
luh dyah-LOHG
enchaîner
to link up
ah(n)-sheh-NAY
varier
to vary
vah-RYAY
la répétition
the repetition
lah ray-pay-tee-SYOH(n)
fluide
flowing
flweed
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
Now put it together. Take four lines of dialogue and report the whole exchange in one paragraph, with a different reporting verb each time and no quotation marks at all.
Et aussi · And also
Il a expliqué qu'il était fatigué. J'ai répondu que je comprenais. Il a ajouté qu'il partirait le lendemain. J'ai demandé s'il reviendrait. This is the single most examined B2 writing skill.
Attention · Watch out
Vary the reporting verb — expliquer, répondre, ajouter, demander — and keep the tense shift on each one. A reported paragraph with dire four times reads as a transcript.
prendre, plus-que-parfait — the table
je avais pris · tu avais pris · il/elle avait pris · nous avions pris · vous aviez pris · ils/elles avaient pris
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il a expliqué qu'il était fatigué.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out prendre, plus-que-parfait 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.