Read French · Lesson 10 · Relationships and references
Read groups of verbs
Distinguish what happens from what is planned, required, or just completed.
Prerequisite: the earlier lessons in this course, especially sentence structure and common present forms. Use the previous link if these are unfamiliar.
You can answer in English. Keep the translation closed for your first attempt. Dictionary use is compatible with independent reading; a successful exercise is not a fluency certificate.
Read before the explanation
Read for the main meaning first. Then consider this question: Has Lina already phoned? Has she necessarily joined the group? Why is Nora opening the window?
First reading · Original course text · about 74 words
Avant la rencontre
La rencontre va commencer. Nora est en train de préparer la salle. Lina vient de téléphoner : elle doit rester au bureau. Elle veut rejoindre le groupe plus tard, mais elle ne peut pas encore partir. Il faut prévenir les voisins. Sami essaie de trouver leurs numéros. Il commence à appeler les personnes qui habitent loin. Nora ouvre la fenêtre pour refroidir la salle. Elle espère pouvoir accueillir tout le monde à dix-huit heures.
Vocabulary for this passage
rejoindre
to join
prévenir
to notify
loin
far away
refroidir
to cool
espérer
to hope
tout le monde
everyone
English reading, after your attempt
The meeting is going to start. Nora is preparing the room. Lina has just phoned: she has to stay at the office. She wants to join the group later, but cannot leave yet. The neighbours need to be notified. Sami tries to find their numbers. He starts calling the people who live far away. Nora opens the window to cool the room. She hopes to be able to welcome everyone at six in the evening.
One contextual rendering, not a word-for-word substitution rule. Try another reading with this reveal closed.
Find the finite verb and infinitive
A finite verb carries a tense and agrees with its subject. An infinitive is a dictionary form. In Nora doit partir, doit is finite and partir is infinitive. Doit adds obligation here; it does not assert that Nora has left. Pouvoir can express ability or permission, vouloir desire, and devoir obligation or an inference depending on context.
Separate an event from the attitude toward it
A finite verb is the form connected to a subject and tense. An infinitive names a verb without that particular subject and tense, as a dictionary does. In Inès peut réparer la lampe, peut is the finite form of pouvoir, can or be able to, while réparer means to repair and la lampe means the lamp. Read the ability together with the proposed repair. The sentence presents a possibility or capacity. It does not report a completed repair, and it does not promise that Inès will attempt one.
Change only the first verb and the event receives a different interpretation. Inès veut réparer la lampe says she wants to repair it; Inès doit réparer la lampe can say she must repair it. Veut introduces desire and doit can introduce an obligation. The infinitive and its object stay the same. An English summary such as Inès repairs the lamp erases the very distinction these verbs contribute. Keep an explicit word for wanting, ability, or obligation until the surrounding text supports a stronger statement about what happens.
The event is not equally asserted
French wording
What is presented
Inès peut réparer la lampe.
Ability or possibility in context.
Inès veut réparer la lampe.
A desire to repair it.
Inès doit réparer la lampe.
An obligation in a task context.
Inès répare la lampe.
The repair as a present activity.
Each line keeps the same repair as its possible event. The first verb changes what the sentence commits to, without reporting that the repair succeeds.
A modal verb is a verb that qualifies a possibility, necessity, or related attitude toward another event. The term is useful, but it does not assign one fixed meaning to each French form. Inès peut entrer uses entrer, enter. Beside a locked door and a key, it can concern practical ability. In a notice giving access rules, it can concern permission. Neither reading alone guarantees entry. The same French sentence may remain ambiguous if the writer gives no information about rules, obstacles, or the speaker's intention.
Devoir can express an inference rather than an order. In the fictional exchange La lumière est allumée. Inès doit être ici, la lumière means the light, allumée on or lit, and ici here. The light is evidence for a conclusion that Inès must be here. Nobody is necessarily requiring her presence. Contrast a schedule that says Inès doit être ici à neuf heures, Inès has to be here at nine. A time expression supports the schedule reading but does not mechanically prove it without context.
Several infinitives can occur together. Inès veut pouvoir réparer la lampe means she wants to be able to repair the lamp. Read outward from the event: repair the lamp, be able to do that, want that ability. The finite veut states the desire. Pouvoir does not itself carry a separate present-tense assertion of ability here. A wish for training or equipment fits this sentence even if Inès cannot yet make the repair. Losing the middle infinitive would turn a wish for capacity into a simpler wish to act.
Where the negation belongs
Desire denied
Inès ne veut pas entrer.
Inès
Subject of wanting
ne veut pas
Finite verb: desire denied
entrer.
Infinitive: possible entry
Avoidance desired
Inès veut ne pas entrer.
Inès
Subject of wanting
veut
Finite verb: desire affirmed
ne pas entrer.
Negative infinitive: desired non-entry
These two complete sentences locate negation differently. The contrast concerns the content of a desire, not whether either sentence reports an actual entry.
Negation also depends on its location. Inès ne veut pas entrer denies wanting to enter. Inès veut ne pas entrer presents not entering as what she wants. The second is less usual in ordinary conversation, but its grammar makes the difference visible. In both, entrer remains an infinitive. Do not move not freely through an English summary. First determine which French verb the negative wording qualifies, then ask whether the sentence denies a desire, a possibility, or the action itself. Those are different claims.
Read common constructions whole
Il faut partir means leaving is necessary; il does not name a person. Venir de + infinitive describes a recent event: elle vient de partir means she has just left. It differs from elle vient de Lyon, she comes from Lyon. Être en train de + infinitive emphasizes activity in progress. Aller + infinitive often expresses a coming action or intention.
Distinguish phase, time, and movement
Some verb groups tell you which phase of an event the writer presents. Inès commence à peindre le mur uses commence à, starts to, peindre, paint, and le mur, the wall. The start is presented, not the completion of the wall. Inès continue à peindre le mur says she continues painting it. Continue à assumes an activity already in progress or resumed in context. These are stronger commitments than wanting to paint, but neither gives the final result. The wall could remain unfinished after either statement.
Inès est en train de peindre le mur explicitly presents the painting as under way. Est is the finite form; peindre remains an infinitive after the complete construction être en train de. Nothing here concerns a railway train. Compare Inès prend le train, Inès takes the train, where prend means takes and le train is a noun group. Recognizing the construction depends on its whole sequence. Seeing a familiar word inside an expression is not enough to determine its meaning independently of its neighbours.
Similar-looking beginnings, different evidence
French wording
Reading consequence
Inès vient du jardin.
Movement or origin: the garden.
Inès vient de poser son pinceau.
Recent putting down of the brush.
Inès va au magasin.
Destination: the shop.
Inès va repeindre la porte.
Coming repainting, not completed work.
The words after the finite verb determine whether the sentence gives a place, a recent event, or an intended action. Preserve that distinction before summarizing.
Venir de followed by an infinitive presents a recently completed event relative to the reference time. Inès vient de poser son pinceau uses poser, put down, son pinceau, her paintbrush, and vient de, has just. The putting down has happened recently. Contrast Inès vient du jardin, she comes from the garden, where du jardin is a place phrase. The same finite verb can concern actual movement. Inspect whether the following words name an event in the infinitive or a place before choosing an interpretation.
Aller plus an infinitive often presents a coming action. Inès va repeindre la porte uses repeindre, repaint, and la porte, the door. She is going to repaint the door, whether or not any physical journey is involved. Inès va au magasin instead uses au magasin, to the shop, as a destination. Some contexts combine actual going with a purpose, as in Inès va chercher un pinceau, she goes to get a paintbrush. The boundary between movement and planned action can depend on context rather than one infallible test.
Il faut states a necessity without naming a person as the subject. Il faut protéger le sol uses protéger, protect, and le sol, the floor. The sentence says the floor needs protecting; il is not a man assigned the job. A later sentence may identify who will do it. Until then, keep the person responsible unspecified. The writer can present something as necessary without establishing either a duty assigned to Inès or a fact about what she actually does to the floor.
One event at different phases
Starting the work
Inès commence à peindre le mur.
Inès
Subject: the painter
commence
Finite verb: beginning
à peindre le mur.
Infinitive complement: painting the wall
Work in progress
Inès est en train de peindre le mur.
Inès
Subject: the painter
est en train de peindre
Complete ongoing-activity construction
le mur.
Object of painting
Both panels concern painting the wall. The first presents its beginning; the second explicitly presents the activity as under way, without asserting completion.
The time in these constructions comes partly from the finite verb. This lesson uses present forms such as vient, va, and est. Later past forms can relocate the viewpoint without changing the basic construction. For now, distinguish the relationship that each complete group supplies: a start, an activity under way, recent completion, or a coming action. Do not classify all multiword groups as equivalent to a single present action. The difference can decide whether a fictional practical notice describes preparation still needed or work already finished.
Follow complements and object placement
Elle essaie de comprendre means she tries to understand. Elle commence à lire means she starts reading. Learn the à or de with the verb pattern. In elle veut le lire, le belongs to lire. A purpose can follow pour: elle ouvre le dossier pour vérifier la date. Purpose is not proof of success.
Keep each complement with its own verb
A complement supplies something a verb's construction calls for, such as what is read or whom someone speaks to. Different French verbs connect to their complements differently. Inès essaie de réparer la lampe uses essaie de, tries to, while Inès apprend à réparer la lampe uses apprend à, learns to. The English to does not tell you whether French uses de or à. Read the first verb together with its linking preposition. Trying and learning are different processes, and neither sentence alone says the lamp works afterward.
An object pronoun can belong to the infinitive rather than the finite verb. Inès veut la réparer means Inès wants to repair it, with la referring to the previously identified lamp. Inès does not want an unnamed female person merely because the pronoun is feminine. Its grammatical gender follows lampe. Restore réparer la lampe first, then include the wanting. The usual position before the infinitive helps identify this relationship, but meaning and the surrounding noun reference still matter. The nearest verb on the left is not automatically its owner.
Who is expected to close the door
French wording
Expected closer
Inès veut fermer la porte.
Inès wants to close it.
Inès demande à Léa de fermer la porte.
Léa is asked to close it.
Inès promet à Léa de fermer la porte.
Inès promises to close it.
The first verb controls the intended performer of the infinitive. Similar prepositions and word order do not make requests and promises interchangeable in meaning.
An infinitive can have both a thing shown and a recipient. In Inès veut lui montrer le dessin, montrer means show, le dessin the drawing, and lui to him or her in context. Restore montrer le dessin à Léa if the preceding text identifies Léa as recipient. The thing shown and the recipient have different roles. Lui does not tell you the recipient's gender here. Nor does the desire establish that Léa sees the drawing. Keep the recipient relationship inside the proposed showing rather than treating it as a separate completed communication.
Infinitive purpose clauses explain why someone acts without guaranteeing the intended result. Inès déplace la chaise pour atteindre l'étagère uses déplace, moves, la chaise, the chair, atteindre, reach, and l'étagère, the shelf. The movement is stated; reaching the shelf is its purpose. The normal reading makes Inès the person intending to reach it. A later sentence can report failure without contradicting this purpose. An English summary saying she moves the chair and reaches the shelf adds an outcome that pour alone does not provide.
Some verbs introduce another person who performs the infinitive action. Inès demande à Léa de fermer la porte uses demande à, asks someone, and fermer, close. Inès asks; Léa is the requested closer. Compare Inès promet à Léa de fermer la porte, where promet, promises, normally makes Inès the intended closer. The matching sequence of a person plus de does not settle who acts. You must recognize what asking or promising contributes. Neither construction is proof that the requested or promised closing eventually occurs.
Resolve the object before summarizing
Named object
Inès veut réparer la lampe.
Inès
Subject of wanting
veut
Finite verb: wants
réparer la lampe.
Infinitive with its named object
Object recovered from context
Inès veut la réparer.
Inès
Subject of wanting
veut
Finite verb: wants
la réparer.
Infinitive with its pronoun object: la means the lamp
The lamp remains the object of repair when a pronoun replaces its name. The finite verb expresses a desire, so neither panel asserts a successful repair.
Several relationships can remain clear even when a noun is unfamiliar. In Inès essaie de le réparer, an earlier noun supplies le, the thing she tries to repair. You may not yet know what kind of object it is, but you can still recover the attempt and its uncertain outcome. A dictionary lookup should then identify that noun or confirm the full verb construction. Looking up only de cannot tell you why it appears after essaie. The construction, not a universal meaning of the preposition, organizes the sentence.
Inspect a sentence
A different case clears the selection, feedback, and worked reveal. Reset keeps the current case.
Lina ne parle plus au téléphone.
Select the complete recent-past construction.
Choose one segment, then check. Selection is not automatically marked. All cases are hand-annotated examples, not automatic grammar analysis.
Lina vient de téléphoner au bureau ce matin.
Worked sentence structure
French evidenceWhat it supports
Lina
Subject
vient de téléphoner
Has just phoned
au bureau
Recipient/place
ce matin.
Time
Venir de plus an infinitive marks recent completion. The action has occurred.
Read the strength of a practical statement
In the controls above, identify the construction requested before checking a segment. A selection can be too short if it leaves out the infinitive that turns movement wording into an event construction. Conversely, a place phrase is not an infinitive simply because it follows a familiar preposition. After checking, use the worked structure to compare what the complete group contributes with what its separate words could mean elsewhere. These authored cases illustrate specific distinctions. The page does not parse a new French sentence that you type or assess your own English explanation.
Consider a fictional workshop note, Inès essaie de réparer la lampe. Elle doit encore acheter une pièce. Encore means still here, acheter buy, and une pièce a part in this repair context. The first sentence reports an attempt. The second gives an outstanding requirement, buying a part. The note does not say repair is impossible, only that another step remains. An attempt can be real while its result is uncertain. Keeping those facts separate gives a more faithful account than either she repaired it or she did nothing.
Polarity applies to a particular verb
French wording
What follows
Inès veut peindre.
Desire to paint.
Inès ne veut pas peindre.
That desire is denied.
Inès arrête de peindre.
Painting stops.
Inès n'arrête pas de peindre.
Painting continues in this reading.
The negation can deny desire or deny stopping. A negative sentence about a phase can still describe continued activity, so track the whole construction.
A second fictional note says Inès peut réparer la lampe, mais elle ne veut pas la garder. Mais introduces a contrast, garder means keep, and la again refers to the lamp. Ability to repair does not imply a desire to keep the object. The negation denies a desire to keep the lamp, not the earlier ability to repair it. This is a useful failure case for a summary based only on repeated pronouns. The same referent can participate in different events with different attitudes and different polarity.
A group can also report a state rather than a task. In a fictional practical exchange, La lampe doit être cassée, car elle ne fonctionne pas uses cassée, broken, car, because, and fonctionne, works. The proposed broken condition is an inference supported by the observation that the lamp does not work. It is not an instruction to break the lamp. The observation might have another explanation, such as a missing bulb. Understanding the inference does not independently establish that its conclusion is true, even if it sounds plausible.
Compare Inès arrête de peindre with Inès n'arrête pas de peindre. Arrête de means stops doing; the negative version commonly means she keeps painting or does not stop painting. Treating pas as a general signal that no painting occurs reverses the second sentence. The phase verb is what receives negation. This does not tell you whether the continued activity is welcome, tiring, or successful. Those evaluations would need context. Phase and polarity together can therefore matter more than the basic dictionary meaning of the event verb.
A purpose is not an outcome
Purpose only
Inès déplace la chaise pour atteindre l'étagère.
Inès
Subject of moving
déplace la chaise
Stated action: moves the chair
pour atteindre l'étagère.
Purpose: reaching the shelf
Outcome separately stated
Inès déplace la chaise et atteint l'étagère.
Inès
Subject of both actions
déplace la chaise
First stated action
et atteint l'étagère.
Second stated action: reaches the shelf
Moving the chair is stated in both panels. The purpose construction leaves reaching the shelf unconfirmed; the coordinated version separately asserts that she reaches it.
For the transfer reading below, separate each event from the writer's commitment about it before opening the English rendering. Your account may need a completed event, a current activity, and an intention, rather than one uniform list of actions. If a meaning depends on context, record the alternatives with their evidence. Reset this case clears the worked reveal above but does not create new examples or test long-term recall. The independent reading decision is whether a fresh group asserts an event, qualifies its possibility, or describes only a purpose or phase.
Read a new passage
Explain the two uses of viens de. Has Nora found her diary?
Transfer reading · Original course text · about 48 words
Deux messages
« Je viens de Lyon », écrit Malik. « Je viens de terminer le dossier et je vais prendre le train. Je voudrais te le montrer demain. » Nora lit le message. Elle doit vérifier une date avant de répondre. Elle est en train de chercher son agenda.
Vocabulary for this passage
écrire
to write
terminer
to finish
voudrais
would like, conditional form
un agenda
a diary or planner
avant de
before doing
English reading, after your attempt
“I come from Lyon,” Malik writes. “I have just finished the file and I am going to take the train. I would like to show it to you tomorrow.” Nora reads the message. She must check a date before replying. She is looking for her diary.
One contextual rendering, not a word-for-word substitution rule. Try another reading with this reveal closed.
Explain your reading
Use the passages above as evidence. Write or say your answer before opening a hint or worked answer. The page does not judge free-form responses.
Do not turn plans into facts
Has Lina already phoned? Has she necessarily joined the group? Why is Nora opening the window?
Hint
Contrast vient de, veut, and pour.
Worked answer
French evidenceWhat it supports
vient de téléphoner
Recent completed phone call.
Elle veut rejoindre le groupe plus tard
An intention, not an accomplished arrival.
Compare the quoted wording with the interpretation alongside it. Keep the surrounding passage in view.
Lina has just phoned. Her wish to join later does not establish that she has joined or will succeed. Nora opens the window to cool the room; that purpose alone does not prove the room cools.
Same words, different structure
Explain the two uses of viens de. Has Nora found her diary?
Hint
Look at what follows de and at en train de.
Worked answer
French evidenceWhat it supports
Je viens de terminer le dossier
The file has just been completed.
Elle est en train de chercher son agenda.
The search is ongoing; its success is unstated.
Compare the quoted wording with the interpretation alongside it. Keep the surrounding passage in view.
Je viens de Lyon gives origin. Je viens de terminer gives recent completion. Nora is searching for her diary; the passage does not say she finds it.
Review expressions in context
Changing sets restarts at the first item with its meaning hidden. Returning to an item also hides its meaning. Nothing is scheduled or stored after reload.
Item 1 of 6. Recall its meaning in this passage before revealing it.
rejoindre
Meaning hidden
All review meanings
French evidenceWhat it supports
rejoindre
to join
prévenir
to notify
loin
far away
refroidir
to cool
espérer
to hope
tout le monde
everyone
These are meanings in the lesson’s contexts. The same expression can have other meanings elsewhere.
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French reading record
Lesson: Read groups of verbs
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Sources and next reading
The French passages, tasks, and explanations are original course material except the explicitly attributed short excerpt in lesson 26. News-style passages describe invented events. Fiction is not quoted from or attributed to Modiano. Translations give contextual readings, not universal word equivalents.
These selected university grammar references support the mechanisms. Their exercises and characters are not reused. Automated tests check authored data and interface behavior, not linguistic correctness, learning effectiveness, or a CEFR level. No independent French-teacher review has been completed.
For easier continuous reading, reread an earlier passage with its support closed, then try a graded reader on a familiar subject. Revisit several useful expressions in a later session.