The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
On voyait qu’il s’appliquait, lui aussi ; sa voix tremblait d’émotion, et c’était si drôle de l’entendre, que nous avions tous envie de rire et de pleurer.
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.
Where it stands
The sentences either side of it, each with its own page.
After writing, we had our history lesson; then the little ones all sang their ba be bi bo bu together.
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On | on | one, people, they, someone (pron.) |
| voyait | voir | to see (v.); se voir — to see oneself; voyons — let’s see; voyez-vous — you see |
| qu | que | that, which, whom; than; how…! (conj./rel. pron.); ne… que — only |
| il | il | he; it (il, ils — they) (pron.); il y a — there is; il faut — one must |
| s | se | himself, herself, itself, themselves; each other (reflexive pron.); s’ also stands for si — if — in s’il, s’ils |
| appliquait | appliquer | to apply (v.); s’appliquer — to work hard, take pains |
| lui | lui | him; to him, to her (pron.) |
| aussi | aussi | also, too; as (… as) (adv.); aussi… que — as… as |
| sa | son | his, her, its (det.) — son, sa, ses; also le son, sound: à son de trompe; also bran (n., m.) — du son, rabbit bait |
| voix | voix | voice (n., f.) |
| tremblait | trembler | to tremble, shake (v.) |
| d | de | of, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to… |
| émotion | émotion | emotion (n., f.) |
| et | et | and (conj.) |
| c | ce | this, that; these, those (dem. adj.); it, that (pron.) — c’est, it is; ce qui, ce que — what |
| était | être | to be (v.); c’est — it is; also forms the past of some verbs: elle est venue — she came |
| si | si | so, such (adv.) |
| drôle | drôle | funny, comical, odd (adj.) |
| l | le | him, it (pron.) |
| entendre | entendre | to hear (v.) |
| nous | nous | we; us, to us; ourselves (pron.) |
| avions | avoir | to have (v.); il y a — there is, there are; avoir beau + inf. — to do in vain; avoir peur — to be afraid |
| 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 |
| envie | envie | desire, longing (n., f.); avoir envie de — to want to, long to |
| rire | rire | to laugh (v.); se mettre à rire — to burst out laughing |
| pleurer | pleurer | to cry, weep (v.) |
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.