📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 20 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 4 · Les relatifs complexes
Le jour où
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 20 of 30: French says the day WHERE. 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 20.
The words
French
English
Say it
le jour où je suis arrivé
the day I arrived
luh zhoor oo zhuh swee zah-ree-VAY
l'année oùfeminine — the article elides to l'
the year when
lah-nay OO
déménager
to move house
day-may-nah-ZHAY
le moment
the moment
luh moh-MAH(n)
la couture
the seam
lah koo-TEWR
le détail
the detail
luh day-TAHY
naturel
natural
nah-tew-REHL
maladroit
clumsy
mah-lah-DRWAH
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
French says the day WHERE, not the day when: le jour où je suis arrivé, l'année où nous avons déménagé, au moment où tout a changé. Où covers time as well as place, and quand never does this job.
Et aussi · And also
It is a small thing that marks a writer instantly. English speakers reach for quand, and a French reader hears the seam.
Attention · Watch out
French says the day WHERE: le jour où je suis arrivé. Never le jour quand — quand is not a relative pronoun.
devoir, imparfait — the table
je devais · tu devais · il/elle devait · nous devions · vous deviez · ils/elles devaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le jour où je suis arrivé.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out devoir, 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.