Raconter et rester en contact
Chapter Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Sequence a story using connectors such as d'abord, ensuite, puis, après ça, and enfin.
- Combine the passé composé and the imparfait confidently across an entire narration, drawing on the systems developed in Chapters 16, 17, and 18.
- Tell a connected story about a memorable event, in speech and in writing.
- Ask someone to tell a story and ask follow-up questions about what happened.
- Write a short personal message or email that narrates recent or past news to stay in touch with someone.
- Understand a longer spoken or written narrative that mixes both past tenses and several connectors.
- Review and self-check the core grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation systems developed since Chapter 1.
- Apply accurate pronunciation and connected speech across a full narrative passage, including required liaison, enchaînement, auxiliary–participle rhythm, and the shared /ɛ/ vowel of -ais, -ait, and -aient without pronouncing their final consonant letters.
Communication Scenario
A few weeks after visiting his grandmother Mireille in Tours, Marc writes her a long email to stay in touch. He wants to tell her about a trip he just took with his friend Nadia, describe what the two of them did step by step, and mention how things have changed since his last visit. Mireille writes back, continuing the family habit of telling connected stories about ordinary life. This chapter brings together everything you have learned about narrating the past — from the classroom language of Chapter 2 to the imparfait of Chapter 18 — so that you can tell a complete, connected story rather than a list of separate sentences.
- Tell a story in order, from beginning to end.
- Mix background description with the events that actually happened.
- Ask someone else to tell their story and follow up with questions.
- Write a personal message that keeps a friend or family member updated.
Core Vocabulary
This chapter's new productive vocabulary is a small set of narrative connectors and a few message-writing expressions. Several staying-in-touch expressions are recycled from earlier chapters and applied here to longer, connected narration. Verbs, time expressions, and topical vocabulary throughout the chapter are recycled from Chapters 1–18.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| d'abord | first, at first |
| ensuite | next, then |
| puis | then |
| après ça | after that |
| pendant ce temps | meanwhile |
| tout à coup | suddenly |
| finalement / enfin | finally |
| à la fin | in the end |
| French | English | Status |
|---|---|---|
| donner des nouvelles | to give (someone) news, to update | New |
| Quoi de neuf ? | What's new? | New |
| raconter | to tell, to narrate | Recycled |
| se souvenir de | to remember | Recycled |
| Écris-moi vite ! | Write back soon! | New |
| Grosses bises | Big hugs / love (informal closing) | New |
Register note: Quoi de neuf ? is informal and appropriate with friends, relatives, and familiar contacts. Écris-moi vite ! is an informal invitation to write back. Grosses bises is a warm closing generally used with family members, close friends, or other familiar contacts; it is not a neutral formal-business closing.
No new verb tense, clitic pattern, or grammar system is introduced as productive in this chapter. Chapter 19 consolidates the passé composé (Ch. 16–17) and the imparfait (Ch. 18) rather than expanding the tense system further.
Pronunciation Focus
Telling a full story places several previously learned pronunciation systems in sequence: the shared /ɛ/ pronunciation of -ais, -ait, and -aient from Chapter 18, with their final consonant letters remaining silent, the auxiliary-plus-participle rhythm of the passé composé from Chapters 16–17, and the liaison and enchaînement patterns recycled since Chapter 1.
Pay attention to connected speech across the narrative. In nous avons and nous étions, required liaison produces an audible /z/ before the following vowel. In a phrase such as avec elle, the already pronounced final /k/ of avec links smoothly into the following vowel through enchaînement. Sequencing connectors should also be grouped naturally with the sentence that follows: D'abord, nous sommes arrivés; Ensuite, nous avons cherché un taxi. No new sound or connected-speech rule is introduced here; this is a chance to apply everything at ordinary narrative speed.
Grammar: Raconter une histoire complète
Purpose: consolidate the passé composé and imparfait system from Chapters 16–18, and use sequencing connectors to organize a complete, connected narration rather than isolated sentences.
19.1 Why a story needs connectors
A list of separate sentences in the passé composé and the imparfait can be grammatically correct but still fail to sound like a story. Connectors show the listener or reader how the events relate to one another in time, and they signal which sentence is the next step in the sequence rather than a new, unrelated idea.
- D'abord, nous sommes arrivés à la gare. Ensuite, nous avons cherché un taxi. Finalement, nous sommes arrivés à l'hôtel très tard. First, we arrived at the station. Next, we looked for a taxi. Finally, we arrived at the hotel very late.
19.2 Reviewing the passé composé / imparfait system
Notice that no new tense appears in this example: every verb form is either the imparfait or the passé composé, exactly as taught in Chapters 16–18. What is new is only the organizing work done by the connectors.
19.3 Asking someone to tell their story
To invite someone to narrate, French speakers commonly use Raconte-moi... (informal) or Racontez-moi... (formal or plural), followed by a specific topic such as ton week-end or ton voyage. Follow-up questions typically use question words and formulas already active since earlier chapters: Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ?, Et après ?, Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ensuite ?, and Pourquoi ?. Treat Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ? as a fixed question formula meaning "What happened?"; learners are not required to analyze or generalize the underlying relative-clause structure in this chapter.
- Raconte-moi ton week-end. Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ? Tell me about your weekend. What happened?
- Raconte-moi ton voyage. Et après ? Tell me about your trip. And then?
19.4 Personal messages that narrate
An email or letter that gives news often opens with a greeting and a question such as Quoi de neuf ?, narrates one or two connected events using the pattern above, and closes with an informal closing such as Écris-moi vite ! or Grosses bises. This chapter does not introduce new formal-letter conventions; formal correspondence remains outside the scope of this volume.
Model Dialogue: Raconte-moi ton week-end
Context: Marc calls his friend Nadia the day after their trip to Tours to talk about what happened, before he writes to his grandmother.
Notice how the dialogue uses d'abord, ensuite, après ça, and finalement to sequence the exchange, while il faisait très beau, j'étais tellement content, and pendant que je marchais supply background using the imparfait, exactly as in Chapter 18.
Listening Practice
Listen once or twice before revealing the script. Use an audio recording, text-to-speech tool, instructor, or partner to read the passage aloud. Answer the questions from listening alone, then reveal the script to check your work.
- How did Marc and Nadia travel to Tours, and what was Nadia doing during the trip?
- What did Marc's grandmother do when they arrived?
- Who did Marc meet while walking around the old neighborhood, and what happened next?
- List the four sequencing connectors used in the script, in order.
Reveal script after listening
Speaking Practice
Pratique contrôlée — Controlled practice: put the story in order
Read the four unordered sentences below. Put them into a logical sequence, then retell the story aloud using d'abord, ensuite, puis, and finalement. More than one connector arrangement may be acceptable if the sequence remains logical.
- Marc est rentré chez lui très tard.
- Marc a rencontré un ancien voisin de sa grand-mère.
- Marc s'est promené dans l'ancien quartier de sa grand-mère.
- Le voisin a invité Marc chez lui.
Tâche communicative — Communicative task: raconte-moi ton week-end
With a partner, take turns asking Raconte-moi ton week-end. Qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ? Tell a connected story of at least six sentences. Use at least three sequencing connectors, at least two imparfait forms for background or description, and at least three passé composé forms for foregrounded events. The listener asks at least two relevant follow-up questions.
Pratique individuelle — Solo alternative
Record yourself narrating a memorable event from your own life, real or invented, meeting the same requirements as the communicative task above: at least six connected sentences, at least three sequencing connectors, at least two imparfait forms, and at least three passé composé forms. Then record two questions that a listener could reasonably ask about your story, and record a comprehensible response to each question.
Reading Practice
Tâche de lecture — Reading task:
- List, in order, the sequencing connectors Marc uses in his email.
- Who did Marc meet, and what did that person remember?
- What did Monsieur Dubois say the neighborhood used to do on Sundays?
- What question does Marc ask his grandmother at the end of the email, and why?
Writing Workshop
Complete the following linked writing tasks in order.
Tâche 1 — Sentence connection: Put the following five sentences into a logical order and combine them into one connected passage. Use at least four appropriate sequencing connectors.
- Nadia et Marc sont arrivés à Tours.
- Ils ont pris le train samedi matin.
- Marc a rencontré un ancien voisin de sa grand-mère.
- Ils ont déjeuné chez Mireille.
- Marc est rentré très tard.
Tâche 2 — Personal email: Write a short email (eight to ten sentences) to a friend or family member narrating a recent event. Include a greeting, at least three sequencing connectors, at least three passé composé verbs, at least two imparfait verbs for background or description, one question inviting the recipient to reply, and an appropriate informal closing.
- Choose your event. Pick a real or imagined event with at least three connected steps.
- List your events in order. Write a short list of what happened, step by step.
- Add background. Decide where description, weather, age, time, or ongoing situations belong, using the imparfait.
- Draft your email. Connect your events with sequencing connectors, and open and close appropriately.
- Read your email aloud once. Listen for enchaînement across connectors and correct auxiliary and agreement in the passé composé.
- Revise. Confirm every connector is used correctly and every past-tense verb matches its function.
Liste de révision — Editing checklist:
- The email has a greeting and an appropriate informal closing.
- At least three sequencing connectors organize the narration.
- Foregrounded completed events normally use the passé composé in the controlled narratives practiced here, with correct auxiliary and agreement.
- Background, description, habits, and ongoing situations normally use the imparfait when that is the intended narrative viewpoint.
- Every tense choice matches the intended viewpoint and context.
- Verb forms, articles, and adjective agreement are accurate throughout.
- Accents, apostrophes, and punctuation are accurate throughout.
- No vocabulary or grammar from outside Chapters 1–19 has been used.
Culture and Communication
Sending a message, an email, or a letter to give personal news after a visit is a common and valued way to maintain family and friend relationships across the Francophone world, though the preferred medium — a phone call, a text message, an email, or a handwritten letter — varies by generation, family, and personal habit. Do not assume that every family follows the same pattern that Marc and Mireille do here.
Narrative connectors such as d'abord, ensuite, puis, and finalement are used widely in everyday storytelling across the Francophone world. Informal spoken narration may also use après repeatedly as a conversational transition. This is a register and style difference rather than a strict correctness distinction. This course uses ensuite, puis, and après ça to help learners build a varied productive connector range.
Common Mistakes
Error: Writing Je suis arrivé. J'ai cherché un taxi. Je suis arrivé à l'hôtel. as three disconnected sentences.
Correction: Add connectors to show sequence: D'abord, je suis arrivé. Ensuite, j'ai cherché un taxi. Finalement, je suis arrivé à l'hôtel.
Error: Writing Il a fait beau, et j'ai été content to describe the ongoing weather and mood surrounding an event.
Correction: In the controlled narrative pattern practiced here, background description normally takes the imparfait: Il faisait beau, et j'étais content.
Error: Repeating et après, et après, et après throughout an entire narration.
Correction: Vary connectors across the narration: d'abord, ensuite, puis, après ça, and finalement each mark a different point in the sequence.
Chapter Review
Partie A — Compréhension (Comprehension)
1. Return to the Model Dialogue, and answer these short questions.
- Who did Marc meet while walking around his grandmother's old neighborhood?
- What is Marc planning to do that evening, and why?
Partie B — Écriture (Writing)
1. Connect these two sentences with an appropriate connector: Nous sommes arrivés à la gare. Nous avons cherché un taxi.
2. Choose the correct tense: Il ______ (faire) très froid quand nous ______ (sortir) de la maison.
Partie C — Lecture (Reading)
1. Return to Marc's email, and list the three sequencing connectors he uses, in order.
Partie D — Oral (Speaking)
1. With a partner, tell a short connected story about something that happened to you this week. Use at least four comprehensible sentences, at least two sequencing connectors, at least one imparfait form for background, and at least two passé composé forms for foregrounded events. Your partner must ask at least one follow-up question.
Grammar recycled
Passé composé with avoir and être, reflexive compound tenses, imparfait, and the passé composé / imparfait contrast (Ch. 16–18).
Vocabulary recycled
Time expressions, daily-life and travel vocabulary, and household vocabulary from Chapters 1–18.
Pronunciation recycled
The shared /ɛ/ vowel of -ais, -ait, and -aient, silent final consonant letters, auxiliary–participle rhythm, required liaison, and enchaînement across connected speech.
Skills recycled
Personal messages and emails (Ch. 6, 14), narration (Ch. 16–18), and question formation (Ch. 3, 11).
Practical Performance Task
Chapter 19 Practical Check — Telling a Connected Story
Raconter et rester en contact — Telling Stories and Staying in Touch
Complete the following connected tasks, in order.
- Read the model dialogue and Marc's email. Answer the comprehension questions above before continuing.
- Tell a connected story aloud. Narrate a real or imagined event in at least six sentences, using at least three sequencing connectors, at least two imparfait forms, and at least three passé composé forms.
- Ask and answer follow-up questions. With a partner, or on your own using the solo alternative, ask and respond to at least two relevant follow-up questions about a story you hear.
- Write your email. Apply the Writing Task 2 requirements: eight to ten sentences, a greeting, at least three sequencing connectors, at least three passé composé forms, at least two imparfait forms, one question inviting the recipient to reply, and an appropriate informal closing.
- Read your email aloud once. Apply required liaison, enchaînement, auxiliary–participle rhythm, and the /ɛ/ sound of imparfait endings without adding final consonant sounds.
| Criterion | What is assessed |
|---|---|
| Narrative sequencing | The learner uses at least three appropriate sequencing connectors to organize a coherent multi-step story. |
| Passé composé formation | The learner accurately forms at least three foregrounded passé composé events, including auxiliary selection and agreement where required. |
| Imparfait formation and viewpoint | The learner accurately forms at least two imparfait verbs and uses them for intended background, description, habit, or ongoing situation. |
| Tense selection | The learner's tense choices match the intended viewpoint and context rather than relying only on isolated cue words. |
| Interaction | The listener asks at least two relevant follow-up questions, and the storyteller responds comprehensibly. |
| Email conventions | The email contains eight to ten sentences, an appropriate greeting, a reply-inviting question, and an appropriate informal closing. |
| Register | The learner uses informal staying-in-touch expressions appropriately for a friend or family member. |
| Oral intelligibility | The learner produces connectors and past-tense forms intelligibly, applies required liaison in forms such as nous avons and nous étions, and pronounces imparfait endings without adding final consonant sounds. |
| Task completeness | The spoken story and written email satisfy all required sentence, connector, tense, interaction, and convention counts while remaining within Chapters 1–19. |
This chapter consolidates the narrative systems developed since Chapter 16 rather than introducing new grammar. Integrated CEFR A2 performance across the whole volume is assessed in Chapter 20.
Answer Key
Model Dialogue — Comprehension
- He met one of his grandmother's former neighbors.
- He is planning to write to his grandmother that evening, because she loves getting news.
Listening
- They took the train; Nadia was sleeping while Marc looked out the window.
- She made them a big lunch.
- He met one of his grandmother's former neighbors, who invited him to his house, and they talked for two hours.
- d'abord, ensuite, après ça, finalement
Reading
- d'abord, ensuite, finalement
- He met Monsieur Dubois, who remembered Mireille very well.
- The whole neighborhood used to gather in his garden on Sundays.
- He asks quoi de neuf ? because he wants his grandmother to write back with her own news.
Speaking Practice — Controlled Sequence
One acceptable sequence is:
- D'abord, Marc s'est promené dans l'ancien quartier de sa grand-mère.
- Ensuite, il a rencontré un ancien voisin de sa grand-mère.
- Puis, le voisin a invité Marc chez lui.
- Finalement, Marc est rentré chez lui très tard.
Another logically ordered connector sequence may also be accepted.
Writing Workshop — Task 1
One acceptable model answer is:
D'abord, Nadia et Marc ont pris le train samedi matin. Ensuite, ils sont arrivés à Tours. Puis, ils ont déjeuné chez Mireille. Après ça, Marc a rencontré un ancien voisin de sa grand-mère. Finalement, Marc est rentré très tard.
Other logical connector choices are acceptable if the chronology remains coherent.
Chapter Review — Part B
- D'abord, nous sommes arrivés à la gare. Ensuite, nous avons cherché un taxi. (ensuite or puis may both logically connect the second sentence.)
- faisait ... sommes sortis
Chapter Review — Part C
d'abord, ensuite, finalement
Chapter Review — Part D
Answers will vary. A successful response contains at least four connected sentences, two appropriate sequencing connectors, one accurate imparfait background form, two accurate passé composé event forms, and one relevant follow-up question.
Looking Ahead
Ce que vous savez déjà faire — What you can do now
You can tell a complete, connected story using sequencing connectors and both past tenses, ask someone to narrate their own experience, and write a personal message that shares news and keeps a relationship active.