French Reading Practice: Intermediate

Level: B1 (intermediate). At B1 a text no longer stays in one tense: it moves between what happened, what is true now, and what will happen. This page gives one short B1 text about moving to a new city and a clear method to work through it — a few focused minutes that push your reading forward.

By the end of this page you can…

…read a short intermediate French text that mixes tenses, follow it through its time markers, pick out the writer’s opinion, and answer comprehension and discussion questions about it.

How to read an intermediate French text

Do not translate word by word. Work in passes, each with its own goal:

1. First read — the gist. Read the whole text once without stopping. Who is speaking, and what is the situation?
2. Second read — the timeline. Read again and underline the time markers (avant, l’année dernière, maintenant, bientôt, l’année prochaine); they tell you whether each sentence is past, present or future.
3. Third read — the opinion. Find where the writer gives a view (je pense que, selon moi, le plus difficile, j’espère). B1 questions often ask what the writer feels, not only what happened.
4. Word list, then answer. Only now look at the glossed words below, then do the questions, returning to the text to confirm each answer.

The text: A new city

L’année dernière, j’ai quitté mon village pour m’installer à Lyon. — Last year, I left my village to settle in Lyon. Au début, tout me semblait difficile : je ne connaissais personne. — At first, everything seemed hard to me: I knew no one. Maintenant, je travaille dans une petite entreprise et je me sens chez moi. — Now I work in a small company and I feel at home. Selon moi, le plus difficile n’était pas la langue, mais la solitude. — In my view, the hardest part was not the language, but the loneliness. Je pense que la vie en ville a changé mes habitudes. — I think that life in the city has changed my habits. Je sors plus souvent et j’ai rencontré beaucoup de gens. — I go out more often and I have met a lot of people. L’année prochaine, j’espère déménager dans un quartier plus calme. — Next year, I hope to move to a quieter neighbourhood. Bientôt, ma sœur va venir habiter près de chez moi. — Soon, my sister is going to come and live near me.

New words

How to say it

French spelling and speech diverge; watch these in the text’s words:

Listen and repeat

Play each line, then say it aloud before you read on.

Comprehension practice

Quick recap before you answer.

Quiz

Discussion

Try answering these aloud or in writing, in simple French: Et vous ? Have you ever moved to a new city? Quel a été le plus difficile ? What was hardest for you — the language, the people, or something else? Que ferez-vous l’année prochaine ? There is no single right answer; reuse the text’s words (s’installer, se sentir chez moi, les habitudes) to build your own sentences.

Next

• Go back over the elementary text: French Reading Practice: Elementary
• Build the grammar behind the text in the French grammar section
• New here? Start with Start Learning French Here