The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
On n’entendait rien que le grincement des plumes sur le papier.
Nothing could be heard but the scratching of pens on paper.
Where it stands
The sentences either side of it, each with its own page.
They looked like little flags fluttering all around the classroom, hung from the rail of our desks.
Il fallait voir comme chacun s’appliquait, et quel silence !
You should have seen how everyone worked at it, and what a silence!
At one point some cockchafers flew in; but nobody paid them any attention, not even the very little ones, who were working hard at tracing their pothooks, with such heart, such conscience, as if even that were French…
Sur la toiture de l’école, des pigeons roucoulaient tout bas, et je me disais en les écoutant :
On the roof of the school, pigeons were cooing softly, and I said to myself as I listened to them:
Every word in it
| As printed | Dictionary form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| On | on | one, people, they, someone (pron.) |
| n | ne | not (neg. particle) — ne… pas, ne… point, ne… plus, ne… que (only); ne… rien — nothing; ne… guère — hardly |
| entendait | entendre | to hear (v.) |
| rien | rien | nothing (pron.); ne… rien — nothing; rien que — merely, just; ne valoir rien — to be no good |
| que | que | but, except (ne … rien que) (conj.) |
| le | le | the (le, la, l’, les); him, her, it, them — as an object (art./pron.) |
| grincement | grincement | scratching, creaking, grating (n., m.) |
| des | des | of the, from the (de + les) (contr.) |
| plumes | plume | pen, quill (n., f.) |
| sur | sur | on, upon (prep.) |
| papier | papier | paper (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.