The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
Là-bas, au fond de la salle, le vieux Hauser avait mis ses lunettes, et, tenant son abécédaire à deux mains, il épelait les lettres avec eux.
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.
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.
After writing, we had our history lesson; then the little ones all sang their ba be bi bo bu together.
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.
Ah ! je m’en souviendrai de cette dernière classe…
Ah! I shall remember that last class…
Every word in it
| As printed | Dictionary form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Là-bas | là-bas | over there, down there (adv.) |
| au | au | to the, at the, in the (à + le) (contr.); au secours ! — help! |
| fond | fond | bottom; far end (n., m.); au fond — at the bottom, at the far end; au fond de — at the back of; faire fond sur — to count on, set store by |
| 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.) |
| salle | salle | room, hall (n., f.) |
| vieux | vieux | old (adj.) — vieille, vieil; les vieux — the old folk (n., m.); la vieille — the old one |
| Hauser | Hauser | old Hauser, a villager (proper name) |
| avait | avoir | to have (v.); il y a — there is, there are; avoir beau + inf. — to do in vain; avoir peur — to be afraid |
| mis | mettre | to put; to put on, wear (v.); se mettre à — to begin to; se mettre dans le lit — to get into bed; se mettre le cœur à l’envers — to fret |
| ses | son | his, her, its (det.) — son, sa, ses; also le son, sound: à son de trompe; also bran (n., m.) — du son, rabbit bait |
| lunettes | lunettes | glasses, spectacles (n., f. pl.) |
| et | et | and (conj.) |
| tenant | tenir | to hold, keep (v.); tiens! tenez! — here! look!; se tenir — to stand, keep oneself; tenir à — to care about, be keen on |
| abécédaire | abécédaire | ABC book, primer (n., m.) |
| à | à | to, at, in; with (prep.); c’est à… — it belongs to…; à boire — something to drink |
| deux | deux | two (num.); à deux mains — with both hands |
| mains | main | hand (n., f.); à main droite / gauche — on the right / left hand |
| il | il | he; it (il, ils — they) (pron.); il y a — there is; il faut — one must |
| épelait | épeler | to spell, spell out (v.) |
| lettres | lettre | letter (n., f.) |
| avec | avec | with (prep.) |
| eux | eux | them (stressed pron.); eux aussi — they too |
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.