The French reading room
One sentence of «La Dernière Classe»
Alors, comme je traversais la place en courant, le forgeron Wachter, qui était là avec son apprenti en train de lire l’affiche, me cria :
Then, as I was running across the square, Wachter the blacksmith, who was there with his apprentice reading the notice, called out to me:
Every word in it
| As printed | Dictionary form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Alors | alors | then, so (adv.) |
| comme | comme | like, as; how…! (conj./adv.); comme si — as if |
| je | je | I (pron.) |
| traversais | traverser | to cross (v.) |
| la | le | the (le, la, l’, les); him, her, it, them — as an object (art./pron.) |
| place | place | square (n., f.) |
| en | en | in, into; while (+ -ing) (prep.); of it, of them, some (pron.); en train de — in the middle of; s’en aller — to go away |
| courant | courir | to run (v.); courir après — to chase; courir les nids — to go nesting, hunt for nests; en courant — at a run |
| forgeron | forgeron | blacksmith (n., m.) |
| Wachter | Wachter | Wachter, the village blacksmith (proper name) |
| qui | qui | who, which, that (rel./interr. pron.); à qui — to whom, whose; qui… qui — one… another |
| était | être | to be (v.); c’est — it is; also forms the past of some verbs: elle est venue — she came |
| là | là | there; then (adv.); en rester là — to stop there; ce fut là — that was |
| avec | avec | with (prep.) |
| son | son | his, her, its (det.) — son, sa, ses; also le son, sound: à son de trompe; also bran (n., m.) — du son, rabbit bait |
| apprenti | apprenti | apprentice (n., m.) |
| train | train | busy doing (en train de) (n., m.) |
| de | de | of, from; some, any (prep./partitive art.) — du pain, de l’eau; pas de — no, not any; de… en… — from… to… |
| lire | lire | to read (v.) |
| affiche | affiche | poster, public notice (n., f.) |
| me | me | me, to me, myself (pron.) |
| cria | crier | to cry out, shout, call (v.); crier au voleur — to cry “stop thief” |
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.