Five little position words put your world in order: dans (in), sur (on), sous (under), devant (in front of) and derrière (behind). Combined with il y a and your nouns, you can now say where anything is — Le chat est sous la table — and ask où est…? to find what is lost.
| French | English | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| dans | in | dah(n) |
| sur | on | sewr |
| sous | under | soo |
| devant | in front of | duh-VAH(n) |
| derrière | behind | deh-RYEHR |
| Où est… ? | Where is…? | oo EH |
| Le chat est sous la table. | The cat is under the table. | luh shah eh soo lah TAHBL |
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.
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
ON is sur (sewr, the tight French u); UNDER is sous (soo). The Lesson 4 sound pair carries real meaning here — say them side by side until your mouth knows which is which.
Put a pen somewhere and say where it is. Move it, say again. Five moves, five sentences, and the prepositions are yours — the workbook version does this with pictures and answer keys.
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.
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.
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