Alexandra Louise Uitdenbogerd's Blog

Common One-Word Sentences in French, Revisited

I’ve been playing with my scripts lately, filtering French. Previously I have published a list of the top one-word sentences in a corpus of French classic texts, as well as my lists of very easy extracts, based on the language repertoire covered by my Gnomeville comics. Today, while waiting for my very inefficient scripts to finish processing my old download of the French texts from Project Gutenberg, I revisited the frequent one-word sentences. I decided to keep the exclamation marks and question marks this time, so it is clear whether something is being used as a question or not. Here is what is coming up so far…

Ah !Oh !Eh !Hélas !Oui.Non !Non.Oui !Comment !Quoi !Bah !. (most likely names of characters in a play, the first one being Bonaparte.)Pourquoi ?Bon !etc. (probably an artifact of how things were processed)Allons !Ha !Tiens !Hé !Moi.

There’s quite a bit in common with the previous list of one-word sentences. The exclamations that showed in the previous list (Diable ! Parbleu !) still occur in the top 30, so there isn’t a lot of change despite the much larger corpus. I suspect further changes to be quite minor as the processed corpus grows.

The Book Flood Study

In 1983, Elly and Mangubhai published their influential study that compared reading high interest stories to ordinary language instruction and found that there was considerable improvement in reading comprehension and other measures in the two reading-based groups compared to the language instruction group.

I’ve been reminded recently that the paper is behind a paywall, so I thought I would produce a few figures from it here and highlight some of the aspects of the study.

The study participants were primary school students in Fiji, who normally received instruction in their native Fijian for the first three years, switching to English in Class 4.

Here are the residual gains for each Class 4 group (300 students from 12 primary schools) and each type of assessment. The shared book group experienced the teacher reading aloud, sharing the story in an enlarged format, with students joining in to read easier sections, and doing story-related activities. The silent reading group read books of their own choice for 20-30 minutes a day. The control group did the normal curriculum (SPC/Tate audio-lingual program).

Another table showed that the gains a year later, continuing with the same reading activities, were even greater. The results were improved for exam marks in other subjects, including maths.

The Second Easiest Series of Books in French

At last I’ve found them. The books that can be read after Gnomeville.

As those who have been following my blog or buying my comics know, my comics start from a vocabulary of zero French but an English speaking background. Episode 1 introduces twelve very frequent words (with over 300 words of text); Episode 2 adds the remaining eight of the top twenty words occurring in French newspapers (while giving over 700 words of text to read); Episode 3 adds nine more frequent words (with 1200 words of text) and Episode 4 (yet to be released) adds ten more (in 1800 words of text). This makes a total of 39 frequently occurring words. In addition, the comic uses many French-English cognates to make entertaining stories.

While I’m sure that the books I’ve found don’t restrict themselves to frequent words, they do start with a very small vocabulary and include repetition to allow the vocabulary to be acquired easily. The book with the smallest, at 55 words, in an illustrated text of 2100 words, is Edi l’éléphant. From there you can go to Les abeilles exploratrice at 88 words, then Émeraude, le bébé tortue, at 90 words. From there you can go to Brandon Brown dit la verité (95), Brandon Brown veut un chien (104), Brandon Brown à la conquête de Québec (165), and Obsession dangereuse (200). Some of the “Novice Mid” books have smaller vocabularies than these but use past tense.

Picture Books for Beginners in French

A while back, while reading what I could (which is not very much) in Japanese, I noticed that once you knew the writing system, you could immediately read some picture books that are just illustrated dictionaries, as long as there is a direct correspondence between the text and the image. With this in mind, I thought I would compile a list of picture books that beginners in French can read right now. While I don’t have any that completely fall into that category, I have some that are easy for those who have the vocabulary of Episode 2 of the “I can’t believe I’m reading French” Gnomeville comic book series, being the 20 most frequently occurring words in French newspapers.

As the Gnomeville comic book series focuses on frequent words, which tend to be function words, learners don’t get exposed to common concrete nouns, adjectives and verbs, which tend to be much lower down the word frequency list. However, research suggests that concrete nouns are easier to learn and remember than function words. So, it might be valuable to read picture books in parallel with the comics. I don’t think it is worth memorising what you read, but with repeated exposure – especially with pictures – the words will become familiar.

With all that preamble out of the way, here is my list. I only have a few items so far, but will add any I find later. The episode numbers indicate the assumed vocabulary, where the only words that are not within that vocabulary are clearly defined by the illustrations. Where there is an asterisk (*) after the episode number, it means you need an additional word or two for complete coverage.

TitleAuthorLenghRead After EpisodeCommentsUn chatRoger Paré110w2This short book adds a new item to the picture with each page. Annoyingly, it appears to be out of print, but if you access Libby via your library, you might be able to read it there.Un éléphantRoger Paré110w2This short book adds a new item to the picture with each page. Annoyingly, it appears to be out of print, but if you access Libby via your library, you might be able to read it there.Le vertAnna C. Peterson31w1*This short book introduces various items that are green. You could read this after Episode 1, assuming you recognise the cognate couleur and note that cet means “this”. Once again, this is not available on-line, but can probably be read via Libby, which is where I found it.
The rest of the series uses a bit more vocabulary but would be easy for those who have studied French for a few weeks.Une maisonAnnette Smith24w1*This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the nouns. All you need for this one is un, une, and voici (here is).De grosse chosesAnnette Smith34w1*This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the nouns. All you need for this one is un, une, est, and gros /grosse (big). The title includes “choses”, meaning “things”.MamanAnnette Smith16w1*This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the verbs. All you need to know is that “ maman ” means mum/mom.Les animauxAnnette Smith35w2*This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the nouns. All you need for this one is le, la, l’, les, est, d’, and ici (here). The title includes the cognate “animaux” (animals).MoiAnnette Smith16w3This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the verbs. All you need for this one is je. The title means “me”.Je me déguiseAnnette Smith32w3*This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the nouns. All you need for this one is je, un, and suis (am). The title means “I disguise myself”.Nous sortonsAnnette Smith39w4*This is a level 1 book in the GB+ nouveaux lecteurs series. The pictures illustrate the nouns. All you need for this one is nous, à, la, au, de, l’, and allons (go). The title means “We go out.”

(This page includes Amazon affiliate links.)

Publishers of Graded Readers in French

I thought I would put links to the publishers I’m aware of who sell graded readers in French. As usual, some have disappeared, but some still exist.

CLE International have over 300 graded readers, some targeting specific age groups, and covering levels from A1 to B2. Their rebranded Lectures Découverte series (was Collection Découverte) are generally easier than A2 readers from other publishers (and other series) in my experience and their A1.1 stories are very easy compared to those typically labelled A1. I’m slightly frustrated that vocabulary sizes are no longer published, since they are quite relevant to the person reading, if not for the person assessing language level.

CIDEB also have a good range of graded readers (in multiple languages).

Editions Maison des Langues have a small range of graded readers. I get the feeling that they used to have more, since I’m sure I have read some that are not listed on this page. I have read and enjoyed the Alex Leroc series and various other books. From memory the A2 offerings felt more difficult than the CIDEB ones of the same level.

ELI have materials in multiple languages, and publish some beginner books that claim to be based on 100 words of vocabulary. I have a few of their books. The children’s A1 books are much easier than their adult A1 books, which I found quite challenging. Note that if you are learning multiple languages, some of these stories are published in additional languages.

Hachette have their LFF range of graded readers, going from A1 to B2. It looks that they currently sell via specific distributors in different countries. I’ve read some of their A1 Albert et Folio books, which are easy A1 stories. I think the adolescent A1 stories are slightly harder. I’ve also read some of the A2 stories for adolescents. The B1 stories start to use passé simple.

Teen Readers was a Danish publishing house that published graded readers in several languages. They seem to have disappeared since I last looked. You can buy some books online at Amazon and elsewhere. Similarly for Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. They used to have graded reader series suited to the

National Textbook Company also seems to have disappeared, sadly. They had some beginner and intermediate level readers that were quite good.

In addition to these major publishing houses, there are independent authors publishing stories for people learning French. I have links to representative works in my list of French graded readers.

Episode 3: Easy Authentic Sentences from French Classics

On this page are short extracts, titles and sentences which occur in classic French texts and only use the vocabulary of Episode 3 of my Gnomeville comic book series, that is, 29 frequently occurring words in French text, plus exact cognates and names. (I may update this list periodically, when I find more things with my scripts.)

C’est une promenade !

C’est une occasion.

C’est impossible.

Est-il possible, madame !

C’est une tradition.

Avec la Nature ?

C’est possible.

Est-ce possible ?

Pour La Rochelle.

Succès certain.

Je signe !

Graves questions !

Je refuse.

A Personal Rating of French Novel Readability

Lately I’ve been reading a range of books in French and thought I’d keep track of how difficult each was. My categories are: comfortable enough, difficult but the story kept me reading, difficult and I wasn’t motivated to continue. The decision to not continue was often made in the first two pages, and may not reflect the difficulty of the remainder of the book. For context, I passed B1 years ago with 23.5/25 for Compréhension Ecrite, and I’ve continued to read sporadically since, with a burst this year thanks to access to French books in Libby. Here goes…

Easy enoughToo hard but I kept readingToo hard and I gave upWinn-DixieAmari et le Bureau des affaires surnaturellesM. LemoncelloMotel Calivista
(translated to Canadian French from English)Arsène Lupin (inspired by watching the TV series)Mais qui a tué HenriAs-tu peur du loup ?Maigret

I will continue to update this page, since I think it will be useful for those wanting to choose books written for native speakers that are achievable. But what you should read depends on your current level.

For beginners, I recommend French comics written for language learners, followed by easy stories written for language learners (I like the Collection Découverte series by CLE International) and some very easy picture books for young children.

For early intermediate, look at stories written for language learners and start to explore comic books for native speakers of French based on your personal interests. There are a wide range to choose from.

The next phase is a mix of stories written for language learners and books written for middle grades. The J’aime Lire publications vary in how easy they are for a person with an English-speaking background to understand. Children’s novels translated from English to French are generally slightly easier than those that were originally written in French. If you have a favourite novel that you know well, reading it in French will be easier than reading a story that you don’t know well. Many people seem to like this approach but I prefer to read new things.

Penultimately, read novels for an adult audience. Again, translations will probably be easier on average than books originally written in French. Another approach is called “narrow reading”, where you focus on a single author or genre, so that you benefit from the larger percentage of vocabulary shared across books.

Finally, if it was your goal, try tackling the classic novels you are interested in, like Les Misérables.

Episode 2: Easy Authentic Sentences from French Classics

On this page are short extracts, titles and sentences which occur in classic French texts and only use the vocabulary of Episode 2 of my Gnomeville comic book series, that is, the twenty most frequently occurring words in French newspapers plus exact cognates and names. Even easier sentences are found on the Episode 1 page. (I may update these lists periodically, when I find more things with my scripts.)

Qui ?

Qui est Agostino ?

Qui est-il ?

Il change de place !

L’Europe !

Au railway !

En route !

Une avalanche ?

Au Louvre.

Du cardinal.

De la patience, Athos.

Il est absent.

Du courage !

Il est saint !

Il est excellent.

En vain.

Il ignore le riche, il ignore le noble.

L’addition finale.

Une simple promenade d’amateur.

Des biscuits !

Des sardines !

Il est dans un milieu abominable.

L’animal !

Des talents !

Common One-Word Sentences in the French Classics

While exploring French readability and the fact that sentence length is a key factor for English speakers learning French, I thought I’d take it to the extreme and see what are the most common one-word sentences in French literature. Here is the top 20. Note that it is highly influenced by Les Trois Mousquetaires, which is a sizeable portion of the corpus and responsible for about half the occurrences of “diable”.

AhOhNonHélasOuiQuoiEhCommentPourquoiDiableBahTiensAmenMoiBonVraimentMonsieurJamaisPardieuHé

In a different corpus less dominated by Les Trois Mousquetaires, the following were also found in the top 20:

AllonsBienAdieuRienJamais

In a modern corpus I think we would find different expletive-like exclamations than “Diable”, “Parbleu”, and “Pardieu”. A common one these days seems to be “Putain!”, or somewhat less extreme “Punaise!”. Maybe I’ll try to process the French movie subtitle corpus at some point to get a more up to date glimpse at one-word sentences in French.

A tale of three French picture books: passé simple is not that hard!

One of the weird things about studying French is that we seem to have three levels:

Beginners use present tense, imperatives, infinitives, and future proche; Intermediate learners use passé composé, imparfait, future and conditional tensesAdvanced learners use passé simple and subjonctif

Yet, if we look at picture books written for French children, many use passé simple straight off.

I remember when I started reading (in English) in Grade 1 of primary school, one thing I had to get used to was constructs like “said Dora”. It doesn’t happen in spoken English, so felt a little weird. But it wasn’t overly difficult. Perhaps people from English-speaking backgrounds who had stories read to them would have been familiar with that already before reading it. The same thing must be true for French children reading or hearing passé simple. It’s a little different but not hard.

I recently read three French picture books. The first (Le Grand Antonio by Élise Gravel) was a fairly easy one with few words, written in present tense. The second (Quel est mon superpouvoir? by Aviaq Johnston) was a translation from English, written in passé simple (and imparfait). It was a comfortable read for me. The third (Dounia by Marya Zarif) was (mostly) written in present tense but was more difficult due to its vocabulary and more descriptive text. It is obvious to me that it is possible for texts in passé simple to be easier than those in the easiest tenses.

The thing is, you don’t need to know how to conjugate passé simple to read it. You just need to recognise the endings of third person singular (3ps) and plural (3pp) for regular verbs plus know a few of the irregular verbs. Here they are.

For -er verbs, 3ps ends in -a and 3pp ends in -èrent.

For -ir and -re verbs, 3ps ends in -it and 3pp in -irent.

You may come across a few -oir verbs, which have -ut and -urent.

The main irregular verbs to watch out for are:

être: fut, furent

faire: fit, firent

avoir: eut, eurent

The regular ones should not pose any problems. The avoir ones are recognisable thanks to already knowing the past participle of avoir (eu). The main difficulty is not mixing up the être and faire words. A simple rule is that faire has an ‘i’ in it, and so does its passé simple conjugation.

I hope that helps. It helps me.