A1StoryFood and cooking1 min

La soupe du dimanche

Léa makes soup with her grandmother and asks how it is done.

A little kitchen story. Watch the partitive article: de l’eau, du sel, du pain — an amount you do not count. English often says “some” or nothing at all.

Le dimanche, Léa va chez sa grand-mère. Sa grand-mère s’appelle Rose. Elle a quatre-vingts ans.

Aujourd’hui, elles font une soupe. Léa lave les légumes et les tomates. Rose met de l’eau dans une grande casserole.

Elle met aussi du sel et un peu de beurre. Puis elles attendent une heure. La cuisine sent bon.

À midi, elles mangent la soupe avec du pain. Léa aime beaucoup la soupe de sa grand-mère. Elle demande : « Comment tu fais ? » Rose répond : « C’est facile. De l’eau, des légumes, du sel… et toi. »

More sentences on this in “Language in use”: French for food and cooking

Words: 92
Sentences: 15
Words per sentence: 6.1
in the vocabulary: 100 %
measured level: A1
Reading time: 1 min

Grammar in this text

These forms appear in the text in real use. Switch on “Show grammar” above the text to highlight them.

de l’eau · du sel · du pain
The partitive article goes before things you do not count: de l’eau, du sel, du pain. Partitive article: du, de la →
elles font · Rose met · Elle met
faire and mettre are irregular: elles font, Rose met, elle met. Irregular verbs in the present →
s’appelle
A reflexive verb: elle s’appelle — literally “she calls herself”. Reflexive verbs: se laver, s'appeler →

The words from A1 up in this text

Not the hard words in general, but those at your level: 30 of the 36 of the 58 words in this text are at A1 or above. You will know everything else by the time you get here.

aimer
to like, to love
A1
aller
to go
A1
attendre
to wait for
A1
aujourd’hui
today
A1
avoir
to have
A1
beaucoup
a lot, very
A1
bon
good
A1
demander
to ask for
A1
dimanche
Sunday
A1
facile
easy
A1
faire
to do, to make
A1
grand
big
A1
la casserole
the saucepan
B1
la cuisine
the kitchen
A1
la mère
the mother
A1
la soupe
the soup
A1
la tomate
the tomato
A1
laver
to wash
A1
le beurre
the butter
A1
le légume
the vegetable
A1
le pain
the bread
A1
le sel
the salt
A1
l’an
the year (in counting)
A1
l’eau
the water
A1
l’heure
the hour, the time
A1
manger
to eat
A1
mettre
to put, to place
A1
midi
midday
A1
puis
then
A1
quatre
four
A1

The word lists for this text

The words in this text appear in 11 lists on this site; the number after each says how many come from that list. Having read the text, you have just needed these very words — and can practise exactly them.

Food and drink 8 Numbers and time 7 The most important verbs 5 Irregular verbs 5 Living and the household 3 Greetings and politeness 2 Person and family 2 Words for everything 1 Colours and qualities 1 Cooking and recipes 1 The body and health 1

Comprehension questions

3 questions on the text. With each answer the sentence it comes from appears — a question whose answer you cannot find in the text tests nothing.

1. Qui est Rose ?

2. Qu’est-ce que Léa lave ?

3. Combien de temps est-ce qu’elles attendent ?