A1StoryTravel1 min

Une chambre sous le toit

Paul alone in Nice: a small old hotel, a hot room and a window with a surprise.

A short travel story in the present tense. Watch the verbs in -er (arrive, mange, parle) and how adjectives follow the noun: la mer is bleue, and you cannot hear the ending -e.

Paul arrive à Nice le samedi. Il a vingt-cinq ans. Il est seul pour une semaine.

Son hôtel est petit et vieux. La chambre est sous le toit. Elle est très chaude.

Paul ouvre la fenêtre. Il voit la mer ! Elle est bleue et calme.

Le soir, Paul mange du poisson sur la plage. Il parle avec un homme du café. L’homme s’appelle Marc. Il habite à Nice. Il donne une carte de la ville à Paul.

Paul est content. Demain, il va au marché.

More sentences on this in “Language in use”: French for travelling

Words: 86
Sentences: 16
Words per sentence: 5.4
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.

Paul arrive · Paul mange · Il parle
Verbs in -er in the present: il arrive, il mange, il parle. The ending -e is silent. Present tense: -er verbs →
très chaude · bleue
The adjective agrees with the noun: la chambre is chaude, la mer is bleue — feminine with -e. Adjective agreement →
Il est seul · Son hôtel est petit · Paul est content
être describes: il est seul, son hôtel est petit, Paul est content. être — to be →

The words from A1 up in this text

Not the hard words in general, but those at your level: 30 of the 37 of the 54 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
bleu
blue
A1
calme
quiet
A1
chaud
hot
A1
cinq
five
A1
content
pleased
A1
demain
tomorrow
A1
donner
to give
A1
habiter
to live (somewhere)
A1
la carte
the menu
A1
la chambre
the bedroom
A1
la fenêtre
the window
A1
la mer
the sea
A1
la plage
the beach
A1
la semaine
the week
A1
la ville
the town
A1
le café
the coffee
A1
le marché
the market
A1
le poisson
the fish
A1
le soir
the evening
A1
le toit
the roof
A2
l’an
the year (in counting)
A1
l’homme
the man
A1
l’hôtel
the hotel
A1
manger
to eat
A1
ouvrir
to open
A1
parler
to speak
A1
petit
small
A1

The word lists for this text

The words in this text appear in 12 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.

Numbers and time 7 Irregular verbs 5 Food and drink 4 The most important verbs 4 Person and family 3 The town and the way there 3 Living and the household 3 Words for everything 2 Colours and qualities 2 Weather and seasons 2 Greetings and politeness 1 House and technology 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. Comment est la chambre de Paul ?

2. Qu’est-ce que Paul voit par la fenêtre ?

3. Qu’est-ce que Marc donne à Paul ?