· 12 lists · 467 words

Out and about

Eating, cooking, finding the way, the weather.

What holds these lists together

What you do on an ordinary day outside the front door: eating, cooking, finding your way, reading the sky. Between them these lists carry three things English has no model for. The partitive article: where English says «bread» or «some water», French cannot leave the noun bare — du pain, de l’eau. The article fused with à and de: au marché, le prix du billet. And most adjectives, colours above all, placed after the noun: «a red coat» is un manteau rouge. These are the places where a French sentence either holds together or falls apart.

The twelve lists

A1Food and drinkBuying it, ordering it and saying it was good.48 words A1The town and the way thereFinding the street, the shop and the way back.58 words A1Colours and qualitiesThe words that describe what a thing looks like.41 words A1Weather and seasonsWhat the sky is doing and what the year is doing.45 words A2Animals and natureWhat runs, what grows, what stands in the landscape.31 words B1Cooking and recipesThe pan, the knife, and the verbs a recipe is written in.40 words B1Nature and the environmentLandscape, climate, waste, protection.36 words B1Festivals and customsWhat a year is made of, and what happens at each turn of it.33 words B1At the restaurantBooking, ordering, and what is on the bill.29 words B1Environment and energyThe bill, the bin, the meter.32 words B1Garden and plantsSowing, watering, cutting back.30 words B2At the restaurant, in more detailMenu, order, bill — and what can go wrong.44 words

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.

Level	Words	Share
A1	182	39 %
A2	38	8 %
B1	203	43 %
B2	44	9 %

Practise this category

Multiple choice and gaps, across all twelve lists and all 467 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.