About This Lesson
Use Adding a detail to a work note to practice French conversation, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and quizzes.
Dialogue
A
J'ai écrit une courte note.
zhay ay-KREE ewn KOORT NOHT. I wrote a short note.
B
Est-ce que je peux la lire maintenant ?
ess kuh zhuh puh lah LEER man-tuh-NAHN? Can I read it now?
A
La voici.
lah vwah-SEE. Here it is.
B
Elle est bien écrite.
ell ay byan ay-KREET. It reads well.
A
Un détail de plus aiderait ?
uhn day-TY duh PLOO eh-duh-RAY? Would one more detail help?
B
Une ligne de plus l'améliorerait.
ewn LEEN duh PLOO lah-may-lyoh-RAY. One more line would improve it.
A
Je vais l'ajouter maintenant.
zhuh vay lah-zhoo-TAY man-tuh-NAHN. I'll add that now.
B
Alors, nous devrions être prêts à la partager.
ah-LOR noo duh-vree-OHN EH-tr PREH ah lah par-tah-ZHAY. Then we should be ready to share it.Word by Word
J'ai
In “J'ai écrit une courte note.”, J'ai means “I have” as part of the completed-action expression “J'ai écrit”. It is the contraction of je and ai, the first-person form of avoir. A reusable pattern is J'ai + a past participle for a completed action.
écrit
In “J'ai écrit une courte note.”, écrit means “written” and completes the expression for “I wrote”. It is the past participle related to écrire. Here it follows J'ai; the same pattern is useful when saying that you have written something.
une
In “une courte note”, une introduces “a” before the singular feminine noun note. It is the feminine indefinite article. Reuse une before a singular feminine noun.
courte
In “une courte note”, courte means “short” and describes the note. Its form agrees with the feminine noun note. Reuse an adjective after a noun or article in a phrase such as une + adjective + noun.
note
In “une courte note”, note means “note”, here a short note used at work. It is the thing that was written, read, improved, and shared in the dialogue. A useful pattern is écrire une note.
Est-ce
In “Est-ce que je peux la lire maintenant ?”, Est-ce begins the question-opening expression Est-ce que. Together, Est-ce que turns the following clause into a direct question. Reuse Est-ce que + subject + verb when asking a question.
que
In “Est-ce que je peux la lire maintenant ?”, que completes the question-opening expression Est-ce que and introduces the following clause. Its meaning here comes from the whole expression, not from que alone. Reuse Est-ce que + subject + verb.
je
In “Est-ce que je peux la lire maintenant ?”, je means “I” and is the subject of peux. The same subject appears as Je at the beginning of “Je vais l'ajouter maintenant.” Reuse je + verb when speaking about yourself.
peux
In “Est-ce que je peux la lire maintenant ?”, peux means “can” or “am able to”. It is the form used with je and is followed here by the action lire. Reuse je peux + an infinitive to ask whether you can do something.
la
In “la lire”, la means “it” and refers to the feminine noun note. In “la partager”, it refers to the same note as the object of the action. Reuse la before an infinitive when replacing a feminine object.
lire
In “Est-ce que je peux la lire maintenant ?”, lire means “to read”. It follows peux and is preceded by the object pronoun la. Reuse pouvoir + object pronoun + infinitive for an action someone can do.
maintenant
In “la lire maintenant”, maintenant means “now” and indicates when the reading can happen. It is placed after the action in this sentence. Reuse maintenant with an action to specify that it happens at the present time.
voici
In “La voici.”, voici presents the note and means “here it is”. It is used when handing something over or drawing attention to something that is present. Reuse voici when presenting an item.
Elle
In “Elle est bien écrite.”, Elle means “it” and refers to the feminine noun note. It is the subject being described as well written. Reuse Elle est + a description when referring to a feminine noun.
est
In “Elle est bien écrite.”, est means “is” and links Elle with the description bien écrite. It is the present form of être used with Elle. Reuse Elle est + an adjective or description.
bien
In “Elle est bien écrite.”, bien means “well” and gives a positive quality to écrite. Together, bien écrite describes the note as well written. Reuse bien before a descriptive word when expressing that something is done or described well.
écrite
In “Elle est bien écrite.”, écrite means “written” and describes the note. Its form agrees with the feminine noun represented by Elle; it is related to écrit in “J'ai écrit une courte note.” Reuse être + bien écrite to describe a feminine text as well written.
Un
In “Un détail de plus aiderait ?”, Un means “one” or “a” before the masculine noun détail. It introduces one additional detail being considered. Reuse un before a singular masculine noun.
détail
In “Un détail de plus aiderait ?”, détail means “detail”, referring to information that could be added to the note. The expression de plus makes it an additional detail. Reuse ajouter un détail when talking about adding information.
de
In “Un détail de plus aiderait ?”, de is part of the expression de plus. Together, de plus means “more” or “additional” here, as in an additional detail. Reuse noun + de plus to refer to one more item of that kind.
plus
In “Un détail de plus aiderait ?”, plus contributes the meaning “more” or “additional” in the expression de plus. It indicates that the detail would be added to what is already there. Reuse de plus after a noun when referring to one more item.
aiderait
In “Un détail de plus aiderait ?”, aiderait means “would help”. It asks whether adding one more detail would be useful for the note. Reuse a subject + aiderait to ask whether a possible action or thing would help.
ligne
In “Une ligne de plus l'améliorerait.”, ligne means “line”, here an additional line in the note. The expression de plus indicates that it is one more line. Reuse une ligne when referring to a line of written text.
l'améliorerait
In “Une ligne de plus l'améliorerait.”, l'améliorerait means “would improve it”. The l' refers to the note, while améliorerait expresses the possible improvement. Reuse a subject + l'améliorerait to say that something would improve the item already being discussed.
vais
In “Je vais l'ajouter maintenant.”, vais means “am going to” and forms a near-future expression with l'ajouter. It is the form of aller used with Je. Reuse je vais + an infinitive to say what you are going to do.
l'ajouter
In “Je vais l'ajouter maintenant.”, l'ajouter means “to add it”. The l' is the object pronoun placed before the infinitive ajouter and refers to the thing just discussed. Reuse je vais l'ajouter when saying that you are going to add that item.
Alors
In “Alors, nous devrions être prêts à la partager.”, Alors means “then” and connects this conclusion to the previous decision to add a line. It introduces what follows from that situation. Reuse Alors at the beginning of a clause when stating the next step or result.
nous
In “nous devrions être prêts à la partager”, nous means “we” and is the subject of devrions. It refers to the two people acting together. Reuse nous + verb when speaking about yourself and another person or group.
devrions
In “nous devrions être prêts à la partager”, devrions means “should” or “ought to”. It expresses the expected result that the two people will be ready. Reuse nous devrions + an infinitive to describe what the group should do or be.
être
In “devrions être prêts”, être means “to be” and follows devrions. It connects the subject nous with the state prêts. Reuse devoir + être + a description when saying what someone should be.
prêts
In “être prêts à la partager”, prêts means “ready” and describes the group as ready to share the note. Its plural form matches the subject nous. Reuse être prêts à + an infinitive to say that people are ready to do something.
à
In “prêts à la partager”, à introduces the action that the people are ready to do. Together with the infinitive, it gives the meaning “ready to share”. Reuse être prêt or être prêts à + an infinitive.
partager
In “à la partager”, partager means “to share”. It is an infinitive after à, and la before it means “it”, referring to the note. Reuse être prêts à + partager or another infinitive when describing an action people are ready to do.
Grammar Points
aiderait / l'améliorerait
aiderait
eh-duh-RAYwould help
The ending -ait marks the present conditional, often translated as “would” in English.
voici + nom
Voici la note.
vwah-SEE lah NOHTHere is the note.
Voici introduces something being presented; English uses “here is” or “here are”.
French Vocabulary
bien
adv
byan
well
bien écrite
courte
adj
KOORT
short
une courte note
de plus
phrase
duh PLOO
more; additional
Un détail de plus
détail
noun
day-TY
detail
Un détail de plus
écrire
verb
ay-KREER
to write
écrit
J'ai écrit
écrite
adj
ay-KREET
written
Elle est bien écrite
la
pron
lah
it; her
la lire
lire
verb
LEER
to read
la lire maintenant
maintenant
adv
man-tuh-NAHN
now
lire maintenant
note
noun
NOHT
note
une courte note
pouvoir
verb
poo-VWAR
can; to be able to
peux
je peux la lire
voici
adv
vwah-SEE
here is; here are
La voici
Quiz
Word Order
Arrange the words in the correct order.
I wrote a short note.
Show Answer
J'ai écrit une courte note.Here it is.
Show Answer
La voici.It reads well.
Show Answer
Elle est bien écrite.Spelling
Tap the letters to spell the word.
to write
Show Answer
écrithere is; here are
Show Answer
voicito read
Show Answer
lireshort