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French reading practice: what do le, elle and cette décision refer to?

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Read a French workshop notice and trace le, elle, les, y and cette décision. Use a reference table and five questions to check who does what.

In short

To trace a French reference, replace the pronoun with the person, thing or idea it points to, then reread the sentence. Use gender and number to narrow the choice, and the verb to check the role. Cette décision can refer to a whole decision in the previous sentence.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

A coordinator welcoming visitors to a photography workshop.
Nora welcomes les participants to the workshop. Illustration: Atelier

Read the notice first. Follow the form, the co-ordinator and the participants as they reappear under shorter names. Keep the reference table covered until you have tried the questions.

Workshop update · B1 reading

Un atelier déplacé

Le centre culturel organise un atelier de photographie samedi. Pour s’inscrire, chaque participant doit remplir un formulaire1 et le renvoyer avant jeudi. Une fois inscrit, il reçoit un message de confirmation.

Nora, la responsable2 du centre, prépare la salle. Elle accueille aussi les participants à leur arrivée et les accompagne jusqu’à l’atelier. Le photographe les attend dans cette salle.

Cette semaine, le centre a décidé de déplacer l’atelier du matin à l’après-midi. Cette décision3 permet aux personnes qui travaillent le matin de venir. Le lieu reste le même : les participants peuvent toujours y aller en bus.

Le centre enverra un nouveau programme aux personnes inscrites. Celles-ci4 devront vérifier l’heure de début et prévenir le centre si elles ne peuvent plus venir.

Read it in English

The cultural centre is organising a photography workshop on Saturday. To register, each participant must fill in a form and return it before Thursday. Once registered, they receive a confirmation message.

Nora, the centre’s co-ordinator, prepares the room. She also welcomes the participants when they arrive and takes them to the workshop. The photographer waits for them in this room.

This week, the centre has decided to move the workshop from the morning to the afternoon. This decision lets people who work in the morning attend. The location stays the same: participants can still get there by bus.

The centre will send a new programme to the registered people. They will need to check the starting time and tell the centre if they can no longer attend.

How do you find what a pronoun refers to in French?

Question 1No account needed
What does le replace?… et le renvoyer avant jeudi.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

un formulaire. The participant returns the form. The confirmation message is a different item, received after registration.

Question 2No account needed
Who welcomes the participants?Elle accueille aussi les participants…

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Nora. Nora is the co-ordinator introduced in the previous sentence. She is the person doing the welcoming.

Question 3No account needed
Who does les refer to?Le photographe les attend dans cette salle.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

The participants. The photographer waits for the participants Nora has just welcomed and accompanied to the workshop.

Question 4No account needed
What does cette décision refer to?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Moving the workshop to the afternoon. The decision is the whole preceding action: moving the workshop from the morning to the afternoon.

Question 5No account needed
Which words are replaced by celles-ci?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

les personnes inscrites. The referring expression agrees with the feminine plural noun for the registered people who receive the new programme.

Check your reference map

Replace the short expression with its reference
ExpressionReferenceCheck the action
leun formulaireChaque participant renvoie le formulaire.
ilchaque participantChaque participant reçoit un message.
elleNoraNora accueille les participants.
lesles participantsLe photographe attend les participants.
cette décisiondéplacer l’atelier à l’après-midiCe changement permet à d’autres personnes de venir.
yle centre culturelLes participants vont au centre culturel.
celles-ciles personnes inscritesLes personnes inscrites vérifient l’heure.

Le club reporte la sortie. Cette décision surprend les membres.

The club postpones the outing. This decision surprises the members.

The reference is the decision to postpone the outing. Answer with that action when a question asks what cette décision means.

Now reread the notice using the full references from the table. The repetitions sound heavy, but they reveal the links: who sends the form, who welcomes the group, and which change helps the participants.

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