A1StoryEveryday life1 min

Le chat de Madame Roux

A neighbour goes to work, her cat stays outside — and Hugo writes a note.

A story from a block of flats. Watch avoir in fixed expressions: the cat a faim and a froid — in English he “is” hungry, in French he “has” hunger.

Madame Roux habite au deuxième étage. Elle a un chat noir. Le chat s’appelle Prince.

Lundi matin, Madame Roux va au travail. Elle ferme la porte, mais la fenêtre est ouverte.

Le soir, Hugo rentre de l’école. Il voit Prince sur le balcon de sa famille. Le chat a faim et il a froid.

Hugo donne du lait au chat. Puis il écrit un petit mot : « Votre chat est chez nous. Appartement cinq. Hugo. » Il met le mot sous la porte de Madame Roux.

À huit heures, la voisine arrive avec un gâteau pour Hugo.

Words: 95
Sentences: 14
Words per sentence: 6.8
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.

a faim · il a froid
You “have” hunger and cold: il a faim, il a froid. Expressions with avoir →
sa famille · Votre chat
Possessives: sa famille (his family), votre chat (your cat). Possessives: mon, ma, mes →

The words from A1 up in this text

Not the hard words in general, but those at your level: 30 of the 39 of the 58 words in this text are at A1 or above. You will know everything else by the time you get here.

aller
to go
A1
arriver
to arrive
A1
avoir
to have
A1
cinq
five
A1
deuxième
second
A1
donner
to give
A1
fermer
to close
A1
froid
cold
A1
habiter
to live (somewhere)
A1
huit
eight
A1
la faim
the hunger
A1
la famille
the family
A1
la fenêtre
the window
A1
la porte
the door
A1
le balcon
the balcony
A1
le chat
the cat
A1
le gâteau
the cake
A1
le lait
the milk
A1
le matin
the morning
A1
le mot
the word
A1
le soir
the evening
A1
le travail
the work
A1
le voisin
the neighbour
A1
lundi
Monday
A1
l’appartement
the flat
A1
l’heure
the hour, the time
A1
l’école
the school
A1
l’étage
the floor
A1
madame
madam
A1
mettre
to put, to place
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.

Irregular verbs 7 Living and the household 6 Numbers and time 6 The most important verbs 5 Food and drink 4 Person and family 4 Words for everything 3 Greetings and politeness 1 Colours and qualities 1 The town and the way there 1 Weather and seasons 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. De quelle couleur est le chat ?

2. Où est-ce que Hugo voit le chat ?

3. Qu’est-ce que Madame Roux apporte à Hugo ?