Language through Literature

One sentence of «Le petit Chaperon rouge»


Sentence 24 of 34 · Le petit Chaperon rouge, Charles Perrault, 1697

— Elle lui dit : Ma mère-grand, que vous avez de grands bras !

She said to her: “Grandmother, what big arms you have!”

Where it stands

The sentences either side of it, each with its own page.

Le Loup, la voyant entrer, lui dit en se cachant dans le lit, sous la couverture : Mets la galette et le petit pot de beurre sur la huche, et viens te coucher avec moi.

The Wolf, seeing her come in, said to her, hiding himself in the bed under the blanket: “Put the cake and the little pot of butter on the bread bin, and come and lie down with me.”

Le petit Chaperon rouge se déshabille, et va se mettre dans le lit, où elle fut bien étonnée de voir comment sa mère-grand était faite en son déshabillé.

Little Red Riding Hood undresses and goes to get into the bed, where she was very much astonished to see what her grandmother looked like in her nightclothes.

— C’est pour mieux t’embrasser, ma fille !

“All the better to hug you with, my child!”

— Ma mère-grand, que vous avez de grandes jambes !

“Grandmother, what big legs you have!”

Every word in it

As printedDictionary formMeaning
Elle elleshe, her; it (pron.) — elles, they, them (f.)
lui luihim; to him, to her (pron.)
dit direto say, tell (v.); on aurait dit — you would have said; se dire — to say to oneself
Ma monmy (mon, ma, mes) (poss. adj.)
mère-grand mère-grandgrandmother (n., f.) — Perrault’s word
que quethat, which, whom; than; how…! (conj./rel. pron.); ne… que — only
vous vousyou (pron.)
avez avoirto have (v.); il y a — there is, there are; avoir beau + inf. — to do in vain; avoir peur — to be afraid
de deof, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to…
grands grandbig, tall, great (adj.); grand’mère — grandmother; grand seigneur — great lord; grand ouvert — wide open
bras brasarm (n., m.)

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Perrault and Daudet, all eight tales · Charles Perrault

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