The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
Après l’écriture, nous eûmes la leçon d’histoire ; ensuite les petits chantèrent tous ensemble le ba be bi bo bu.
After writing, we had our history lesson; then the little ones all sang their ba be bi bo bu together.
Where it stands
The sentences either side of it, each with its own page.
Tout de même, il eut le courage de nous faire la classe jusqu’au bout.
All the same, he had the courage to keep the class going to the very end.
Over there, at the back of the room, old Hauser had put on his spectacles and, holding his primer in both hands, he was spelling out the letters with them.
You could see that he too was trying hard; his voice shook with emotion, and it was so comical to hear him that we all wanted to laugh and to cry.
Every word in it
| As printed | Dictionary form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Après | après | after (prep./adv.); courir après — to run after; après tout — after all |
| l | le | the (le, la, l’, les); him, her, it, them — as an object (art./pron.) |
| écriture | écriture | writing, handwriting (n., f.) |
| nous | nous | we; us, to us; ourselves (pron.) |
| eûmes | avoir | to have (v.); il y a — there is, there are; avoir beau + inf. — to do in vain; avoir peur — to be afraid |
| leçon | leçon | lesson (n., f.) |
| d | de | of, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to… |
| histoire | histoire | history (n., f.) |
| ensuite | ensuite | then, next, afterwards (adv.) |
| petits | petit | small, little (adj.); la petite — the little one |
| chantèrent | chanter | to sing; (of a cock) to crow (v.) |
| tous | tout | all, every; quite, very (adj./adv.); tout à coup — suddenly; tout de suite — at once; tout à fait — entirely; tout à l’heure — right away |
| ensemble | ensemble | together (adv.); se mettre ensemble — to join together |
| ba | ba | (syllable) ba — first of the spelling-drill chant ba, be, bi, bo, bu |
| be | be | (syllable) be — in the spelling-drill chant ba, be, bi, bo, bu |
| bi | bi | (syllable) bi — in the spelling-drill chant ba, be, bi, bo, bu |
| bo | bo | (syllable) bo — in the spelling-drill chant ba, be, bi, bo, bu |
| bu | bu | (syllable) bu |
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.