French on Your Own

A letter from the village calls Colette back, in 24 chapters. The future and the conditional, the subjunctive without the fear, relative pronouns and reported speech — plus a reference section you can look things up in. The point of B1 is doing it without help, so this is the book that stops holding your hand.

248 pages · 24 chapters

273 words, taught in order

Reference section — verbs, tenses, pronouns

Printable PDF, A4 — nothing to install

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Every chapter

All 24 chapters, and the pronunciation point each one teaches. Read the sound column down the page and it is a system for decoding written French — which is the part most courses leave to the end.

Part One · DemainA letter arrives about the village Colette grew up in. She decides, and plans — in the tense Book Two promised her on its last page.

1 Demain, je partirai
Tomorrow, I'll leave · sound: the mute e, and the syllable it does or does not add
2 Je serai, j'aurai, j'irai
I'll be, I'll have, I'll go · sound: the r you write twice and say once, and what it does to the e in front of it
3 Quand j'arriverai
When I arrive · sound: the t that appears out of nowhere, and the vowel it has to hear rather than see
4 S'il pleut, je prendrai le train
If it rains, I'll take the train · sound: two words, one syllable — and the one small word that refuses
5 Avant de partir, après avoir téléphoné
Before leaving, after phoning · sound: the z inside après avoir, and the seam avant de has not got
6 Révision 1
Demain · sound: Part One by ear — inside a word, and between two words

Part Two · Si je pouvaisClaire says a woman of sixty-eight does not go that far alone. The argument, the asking, and the regret that settles it.

7 Je partirais, si je pouvais
I would leave, if I could · sound: *je partirai* against *je partirais* — one person of six
8 Pourriez-vous m'aider ?
Could you help me? · sound: *pourriez-vous* — one word, and how many beats it has
9 Si j'avais le temps, je partirais
If I had the time, I would leave · sound: *si j'avais le temps, je partirais* — two halves, and where the voice turns
10 À ta place, je prendrais le train
In your place, I'd take the train · sound: *tu dois*, *tu devras*, *tu devrais* — one beat, and then two
11 J'aurais dû partir plus tôt
I should have left sooner · sound: *j'ai dû*, *j'aurais dû* — the difference is in the middle
12 Révision 2
Si je pouvais · sound: Part Two by ear — five things to listen for, and how far each of them goes

Part Three · Là-basThe journey, and a village she half-remembers — which is the best reason there is to learn how French refers to a thing twice.

13 La femme qui a écrit la lettre
The woman who wrote the letter · sound: *qui*, *qu'il*, *qu'elle* — the one that keeps its own beat
14 Le village où je suis née
The village where I was born · sound: *dont* and *donc* — the whole difference is one consonant
15 Ceux qui sont restés
The ones who stayed · sound: *celui*, *celle*, *ceux* — and the third one lands on a respelling you already own
16 J'y vais, j'en ai deux
I'm going there, I've got two · sound: *j'y* and *j'en* — two sounds you already make, and one letter that wakes up
17 Je lui en ai parlé
I talked to him about it · sound: *il n'y en a pas* — count the beats, not the words
18 Révision 3
Là-bas · sound: Part Three by ear — *celle*, *celles*, and the plural that makes no sound

Part Four · Elle m'a dit queHome, and telling Claire all of it — which needs every tense in three books and the joins to hold them together.

19 Elle a dit qu'elle était fatiguée
She said she was tired · sound: *elle* and *qu'elle* — the subject that arrives twice
20 Il a dit qu'il viendrait
He said he would come · sound: A reported question keeps the statement's tune
21 On dit que le village a changé
They say the village has changed · sound: *on a*, *on est* — the n that appears out of nowhere
22 Parce que, grâce à, en arrivant
Because, thanks to, on arriving · sound: *parce que*, *puisque* — the e on the end that is not there
23 Pourtant, à mon avis
And yet, in my opinion · sound: The tune of an argument — two groups, and only one of them settles
24 Révision 4
French on Your Own · sound: Three books of listening, on one page

Inside the book

Real pages, straight from the PDF. Every exercise carries an instruction and a worked first item, and every answer explains why — which is what separates this from a printout of vocabulary.

Page 163 of French on Your Own — Page 163

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