📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 4 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 1 · Le récit écrit
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Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 4 of 30: Description is what separates a report from a story. 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 4.
The words
French
English
Say it
la ruelle
the narrow street
lah rew-EHL
étroit
narrow
ay-TRWAH
la lumière
the light
lah lew-MYEHR
pesant
heavy (atmosphere)
puh-ZAH(n)
désert
deserted
day-ZEHR
le volet
the shutter
luh voh-LEH
aboyer
to bark
ah-bwah-YAY
l'atmosphèrefeminine — the article elides to l'
the atmosphere
laht-mohs-FEHR
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
Description is what separates a report from a story. Give a place a sense of light, sound and space: une ruelle étroite, une lumière douce, un silence pesant.
Et aussi · And also
The imparfait does all the work here, because description has no events in it. La rue était déserte; les volets étaient fermés; quelque part, un chien aboyait.
Attention · Watch out
Description lives in the imparfait because it has no events: la rue était déserte. One passé composé inside a description is an event — make sure you meant one.
être, imparfait — the table
je étais · tu étais · il/elle était · nous étions · vous étiez · ils/elles étaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with la ruelle.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out être, 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.