Here is a sentence from a French weekly. Read it once, out loud.
Si lâon en croit les chiffres publiĂ©s mardi par lâinstitut, dont la mĂ©thodologie a pourtant Ă©tĂ© contestĂ©e Ă plusieurs reprises, la baisse observĂ©e depuis janvier, loin de traduire un redressement durable, ne serait quâun effet mĂ©canique de la rĂ©vision des seuils.
Forty-six words, one main verb. English journalism would have written three sentences. French did not, and a C1 reader has to be able to take a sentence like that apart in real time â and then build one on purpose.
This lesson has two halves: parsing (how to read a long French sentence) and emphasis (how French decides what a sentence is about, given that it cannot stress a word the way English can).
English marks emphasis with the voice: I saw HIM yesterday. French cannot do that nearly as freely, so it moves things instead. The consequence for reading is that the core of a French sentence is often buried in the middle. The fix is a fixed procedure.
| Step | What you look for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bracket every si / dont / qui / que / parce que clause â everything inside is scaffolding. |
| 2 | Bracket every pair of commas: an incise is almost always removable. |
| 3 | What is left is subject + main verb. Read those two words alone. |
| 4 | Now put the scaffolding back, one bracket at a time. |
Applied to the sentence above: strip Si lâon en croit⊠lâinstitut, strip dont la mĂ©thodologie⊠reprises, strip loin de traduire⊠durable, and what remains is la baisse ne serait quâun effet mĂ©canique. Eight words. Everything else qualifies them.
French subordinates where English coordinates. Where an English writer puts a full stop and starts again, a French writer puts a comma and a relative pronoun. That is a stylistic preference, not a grammatical obligation â but reading French means expecting it.
French has one dominant device for emphasis, and it is worth over-learning: câest⊠qui for subjects, câest⊠que for everything else.
| Neutral | Emphasised | What is highlighted |
|---|---|---|
| Marie a payĂ© lâaddition. | Câest Marie qui a payĂ© lâaddition. | the subject |
| Marie a payĂ© lâaddition. | Câest lâaddition que Marie a payĂ©e. | the object |
| Il est parti hier. | Câest hier quâil est parti. | the time |
| Je te parle de ça. | Câest de ça que je te parle. | the complement |
Two things to notice. First, the cleft triggers participle agreement with a preceding direct object â lâaddition que Marie a payĂ©e, exactly as B1 lesson 10 taught. Second, câest stays singular in speech even before a plural (câest eux qui ont dĂ©cidĂ©), although ce sont eux qui is the written standard.
A step up in sophistication. Instead of highlighting a word, you announce the kind of thing you are about to say, then say it.
Ce que je reproche Ă ce projet, câest son coĂ»t.
Ce qui mâinquiĂšte, câest le calendrier.
Ce dont nous avons besoin, câest dâun vrai dĂ©bat.
Ce Ă quoi personne ne sâattendait, câest sa dĂ©mission.
Choose the relative by the preposition the verb needs: reprocher qqch â ce que; avoir besoin de â ce dont; sâattendre Ă â ce Ă quoi. Getting this right is one of the clearest single markers of a C1 speaker.
Speech does the same job more cheaply, by naming the topic outside the clause and leaving a pronoun behind.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Moi, je trouve ça bizarre. | mwah zhuh troov sah bee-ZAHR | Personally, I find that odd. |
| Ce film, je lâai dĂ©jĂ vu. | suh feelm zhuh lay day-zhah VĂ | That film, I have already seen it. |
| Mon frĂšre, il habite Ă Lyon. | mohn frair eel ah-beet ah lee-OHN | My brother lives in Lyon. |
| Il est oĂč, ton sac ? | eel ay OO tohn SAK | Where is your bag? |
| Le fromage, jâen mange peu. | luh fro-mahzh zhahn mahnzh PUH | Cheese, I eat little of it. |
Dislocation is not careless French. It is the standard spoken topic-marking device, and a whole conversation can run on it. Lesson 9 takes it further; here, notice only that the dislocated element is resumed by a pronoun â ce film, je lâai vu, never ce film, jâai vu.
Certain adverbs, when they open a clause, pull the subject after the verb. This is written French, and it is unavoidable in the press.
| French | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Aussi devons-nous agir vite. | oh-see duh-vohn noo ah-zheer VEET | Therefore we must act quickly. |
| Peut-ĂȘtre a-t-il raison. | puh-tetr ah-teel ray-ZOHN | Perhaps he is right. |
| Sans doute avait-elle peur. | sahn doot ah-vay-tel PUHR | No doubt she was afraid. |
| à peine était-il sorti que⊠| ah pen ay-tay-teel sor-TEE kuh | Hardly had he gone out when⊠|
| Encore faut-il le prouver. | ahn-kor foh-teel luh proo-VAY | Even so, it has to be proved. |
| Ainsi sâachĂšve le dĂ©bat. | an-see sah-shev luh day-BAH | Thus the debate ends. |
In the middle of a clause, aussi means also: Je viens aussi. At the head of a clause with inversion, it means therefore: Aussi ai-je refusé. The position changes the word's meaning, not just its emphasis.
If you would rather not invert, the everyday alternatives are peut-ĂȘtre quâil a raison and câest pourquoi jâai refusĂ©. Both are perfectly good French; they are simply a rung lower on the register ladder.
Take four short statements and assemble them into one controlled sentence.
Les prix ont baissĂ©. La baisse date de janvier. Lâinstitut a publiĂ© des chiffres. Sa mĂ©thodologie est contestĂ©e.
â Les prix, dont la baisse date de janvier, auraient reculĂ© selon des chiffres publiĂ©s par un institut Ă la mĂ©thodologie contestĂ©e.
The moves used: a relative with dont, a nominalisation (la baisse), a reduced participle clause (publiés par), and a prepositional qualifier (à la méthodologie contestée). Lesson 3 is entirely about that second move.
And the counter-advice: a long sentence must have one idea, however many clauses. If you cannot say what the main verb is doing, split it. French admires the long période; it does not admire confusion.
The long periodic sentence is actively taught in France â the dissertation rewards subordination, and Le Monde's house style tolerates sentences that an English copy editor would break in three. Fronted aussi with inversion is standard editorial French. In speech, dislocation is so pervasive that a recorded Parisian conversation transcribed literally looks ungrammatical to learners who have only read the language.
Written Québécois follows the same norms, but Québec's public-service writing has been through a strong langage clair movement, and government texts are noticeably shorter-sentenced than their French equivalents. Spoken Québécois dislocates at least as heavily as France, with its own favourite frames: moi là , je trouve que⊠and the tag -tu in yes/no questions (ça se peut-tu ?), which has no counterpart in France.
Write only the main (finite, non-subordinate) verb of each sentence.
Supply the missing qui or que.
Use ce que, ce qui, ce dont or ce Ă quoi.
Complete the inverted form.
1. In Câest cette lettre que jâai Ă©crite, why does the participle agree?
2. Aussi a-t-il démissionné means:
3. Ce film, je lâai vu is: