The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
Cela faisait comme des petits drapeaux qui flottaient tout autour de la classe, pendus à la tringle de nos pupitres.
They looked like little flags fluttering all around the classroom, hung from the rail of our desks.
Where it stands
The sentences either side of it, each with its own page.
La leçon finie, on passa à l’écriture.
The lesson over, we went on to writing.
For that day Monsieur Hamel had prepared brand-new copy slips for us, on which was written in a fine round hand: France, Alsace, France, Alsace.
Il fallait voir comme chacun s’appliquait, et quel silence !
You should have seen how everyone worked at it, and what a silence!
On n’entendait rien que le grincement des plumes sur le papier.
Nothing could be heard but the scratching of pens on paper.
Every word in it
| As printed | Dictionary form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Cela | cela | that, this (pron.) |
| faisait | faire | to do, make (v.); faire + inf. — to have (something) done; il se fit — there came; faire le mort — to play dead; se faire à — to get used to |
| comme | comme | like, as; how…! (conj./adv.); comme si — as if |
| des | des | some, any; of the, from the (de + les) (art./contr.) |
| petits | petit | small, little (adj.); la petite — the little one |
| drapeaux | drapeau | flag (n., m.) |
| qui | qui | who, which, that (rel./interr. pron.); à qui — to whom, whose; qui… qui — one… another |
| flottaient | flotter | to float; to flutter (v.) |
| tout | tout | quite, right, very (adv.) |
| autour | autour | around (adv.); autour de — around |
| de | de | of, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to… |
| la | le | the (le, la, l’, les); him, her, it, them — as an object (art./pron.) |
| classe | classe | class, lesson; classroom (n., f.); faire la classe — to teach |
| pendus | pendre | to hang (v.); se pendre — to hang oneself up |
| à | à | to, at, in; with (prep.); c’est à… — it belongs to…; à boire — something to drink |
| tringle | tringle | rod, rail (n., f.) |
| nos | notre | our (notre, nos) (poss. adj.) |
| pupitres | pupitre | school desk (n., m.) |
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.