📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 5 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 1 · Le récit écrit
Le portrait
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 5 of 30: Describing a person at B2 means going past tall and nice. 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 5.
The words
French
English
Say it
le visage
the face
luh vee-ZAHZH
la démarche lente
the slow walk
lah day-mahrsh LAH(n)T
méfiant
distrustful
may-FYAH(n)
têtu
stubborn
teh-TEW
bienveillant
kindly
bya(n)-veh-YAH(n)
l'habitudefeminine — the article elides to l'
the habit
lah-bee-TEWD
le geste
the gesture
luh ZHEHST
généreux
generous
zhay-nay-RUH
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
Describing a person at B2 means going past tall and nice. Physical: le visage anguleux, les épaules larges, une démarche lente. Character: méfiant, généreux, têtu, bienveillant.
Et aussi · And also
The best trick is to describe one habit rather than five adjectives: elle répondait toujours après un silence. Un tic, une habitude, un geste — and the reader has the whole person.
Attention · Watch out
méfiant, têtu and bienveillant agree like any adjective: une femme méfiante, une fille têtue. And le geste is a gesture, never a jest.
finir, imparfait — the table
je finissais · tu finissais · il/elle finissait · nous finissions · vous finissiez · ils/elles finissaient
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with le visage.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out finir, 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.