I can read a reader's letter to a newspaper and understand what things were like before, what's bothering the writer now, and what they suggest; I can call my neighborhood tranquille or animé.
What the text is about
What the text is about
You're about to read a reader's letter. French newspapers and magazines have a section called “Le courrier des lecteurs”, where readers write about what concerns them in their city. A letter like this is short and has no greeting or sign-off: it isn't a letter to a friend. You know everything in the text: the imparfait for telling how things used to be, the linking words from lesson 3 of this module, and the phrases for giving an opinion.
This kind of letter is always built the same way, which makes the answers easy to find: the map of the letter is in the table.
How a reader's letter is built
The parts always come in this order, so it's easy to find the answers to the questions.
| Part of the letter | What to look for in it |
|---|---|
| who is writing and where they live | name, neighborhood, how long they have lived there |
| what things were like before | imparfait: était, il y avait, parlaient |
| what has changed now | présent: aujourd'hui, maintenant |
| the writer's opinion | à mon avis, je trouve que |
| the writer's suggestion | je propose |
| a question for other readers | Vous en pensez quoi ? |
Lesson notes
What the text is about
You're about to read a reader's letter. French newspapers and magazines have a section called “Le courrier des lecteurs”, where readers write about what concerns them in their city. A letter like this is short and has no greeting or sign-off: it isn't a letter to a friend. You know everything in the text: the imparfait for telling how things used to be, the linking words from lesson 3 of this module, and the phrases for giving an opinion.
This kind of letter is always built the same way, which makes the answers easy to find: the map of the letter is in the table.