The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
Un moment l’idée me vint de manquer la classe et de prendre ma course à travers champs.
For a moment the idea came to me of skipping school and making off across the fields.
Where it stands
The sentences either side of it, each with its own page.
That morning I was very late for school, and I was terribly afraid of a scolding, all the more because Monsieur Hamel had told us he would question us on participles, and I did not know the first word of them.
Every word in it
| As printed | Dictionary form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Un | un | a, an; one (art./num.); l’un… l’autre — the one… the other; les unes… les autres — some… others |
| moment | moment | moment (n., m.); au même moment — at that very moment |
| l | le | the (le, la, l’, les); him, her, it, them — as an object (art./pron.) |
| idée | idée | idea, thought (n., f.) |
| me | me | me, to me, myself (pron.) |
| vint | venir | to come (v.); venir de + inf. — to have just done; il vint à elle — there came up to her; venir à passer — to happen to pass |
| de | de | of, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to… |
| manquer | manquer | to miss, lack; to fail (v.); ne pas manquer de — not to fail to; ne manquez pas de — be sure to; l’herbe te manque — you are short of grass |
| classe | classe | class, lesson; classroom (n., f.); faire la classe — to teach |
| et | et | and (conj.) |
| prendre | prendre | to take; to catch (v.); prendre les devants — to go on ahead; prendre un homme — to take a man as husband; s’y prendre — to go about it |
| ma | mon | my (mon, ma, mes) (poss. adj.) |
| course | course | run, race (n., f.); prendre sa course — to run off |
| à | à | to, at, in; with (prep.); c’est à… — it belongs to…; à boire — something to drink |
| travers | travers | through, across (à travers) (prep.) |
| champs | champ | field (n., m.); à travers champs — across the fields |
Read «La Dernière Classe» in the room Every word glossed where it stands, the English a tap away. The whole tale is free and asks for no account.