One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»

J’étais étonné de voir comme je comprenais.

I was astonished to see how well I understood.

Alors, d’une chose à l’autre, M. Hamel se mit à nous parler de la langue française, disant que c’était la plus belle langue du monde, la plus claire, la plus solide : qu’il fallait la garder entre nous et ne jamais l’oublier, parce que, quand un peuple tombe esclave, tant qu’il tient bien sa langue, c’est comme s’il tenait la clef de sa prison…

Then, from one thing to another, Monsieur Hamel began to talk to us about the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world, the clearest, the most solid: that we must keep it among ourselves and never forget it, because when a people falls into slavery, so long as it holds fast to its language, it is as if it held the key to its prison…

Puis il prit une grammaire et nous lut notre leçon.

Then he took a grammar and read us our lesson.

Tout ce qu’il disait me semblait facile, facile.

Everything he said seemed easy to me, easy.

Je crois aussi que je n’avais jamais si bien écouté, et que lui, non plus, n’avait jamais mis autant de patience à ses explications.

I believe, too, that I had never listened so well, and that he, for his part, had never put so much patience into his explanations.