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French family contacts: read an emergency-contact card

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Read two French emergency-contact cards. Find the person to contact first, their relationship and telephone number, then identify the backup contact.

In short

Personne à prévenir en premier identifies the first contact. Read the lien to find that person’s relationship to the cardholder, then take the telephone number from the same section. Si cette personne est indisponible introduces a backup contact.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

A phone showing two contact portraits connected by a downward arrow.
Read the priority label to find the first contact, then the backup. Illustration: Atelier

Two people have completed a contact card for a weekend course. Your reading task is to identify the right contact on the right card. Start with the name of the person attending the course, then keep each contact’s name, relationship and telephone number together. The second listed contact belongs to a different priority.

Stage du week-end

Contacts à prévenir

Carte de Nadia Moreau

Personne à prévenir en premierSoraya Moreau

Lien avec NadiaSœur

Téléphone06 39 98 01 10

Si Soraya est indisponible

Autre contactMarc Legrand

Lien avec NadiaVoisin

Téléphone06 39 98 01 11

Carte de Hugo Bernard

Personne à prévenir en premierÉmilie Bernard

Lien avec HugoMère

Téléphone06 39 98 02 20

Si Émilie est indisponible

Autre contactLouis Bernard

Lien avec HugoFrère

Téléphone06 39 98 02 21

Each card gives a first contact and a second person to contact if the first is unavailable.
Question 1No account needed
Who is the first contact on Nadia’s card?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Soraya Moreau. Soraya appears under Personne à prévenir en premier on Nadia’s card.

Question 2No account needed
What is Marc’s relationship to Nadia?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

He is her neighbour.. The line Lien avec Nadia says Voisin for Marc Legrand.

Question 3No account needed
Which number belongs to Hugo’s first contact?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

06 39 98 02 20. Hugo’s first contact is Émilie, and her number ends in 02 20.

Question 4No account needed
When does Hugo’s card direct you to Louis?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

If Émilie is unavailable. Si Émilie est indisponible introduces Louis as the backup on Hugo’s card.

Four labels to read as a unit

What each field contributes
French labelReading job
Carte de…Identify the cardholder.
Personne à prévenir en premierIdentify the priority contact.
Lien avec…Find the contact’s relationship to that cardholder.
TéléphoneTake the number for that same contact.

Lien means the connection between two people here. Sœur, mère and frère identify family relationships; voisin identifies a neighbour. The contact is not necessarily a parent. On Nadia’s card, the first contact is her sister, and the backup is her neighbour. On Hugo’s card, the first contact is his mother, and the backup is his brother.

Keep a condition attached to its person

Si means if. Si Soraya est indisponible applies to the second contact on Nadia’s card. It does not change Hugo’s first contact, and it does not make Marc the first person on both cards. The repeated headings matter because each group of rows belongs to its own cardholder. Read the heading before using a detail from the row below it.

Soraya est la sœur de Nadia. Émilie est la mère de Hugo.

Soraya is Nadia’s sister. Émilie is Hugo’s mother.

In a comprehension exercise, point to the label that supports your answer: the priority line for who comes first, the relationship line for who they are, or the telephone line for the number. A matching surname alone is weaker evidence than the explicit relationship written on the card.

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