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Ode to my favourite uncle

"Ode à mon tonton préféré"
French C1 writing exercise

Simon writes a loving text to his favourite uncle.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to bounce [someone] on one's knees", "to feel like [someone]...", "by the lakeside", "to rise to the bait (fish)", "an ice box", "empty-handed (adj.)", "worth its weight in gold", "not a day goes by", "to give a hand to [someone]", "still to this day", "a nugget (gold)".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2023-01-05

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise
How the test works
You’ll practise: L'Imparfait (Indicatif), Pronom d'objet direct, Pronom d'objet indirect

Here's a preview of the text for the writing challenge, when you're ready click the start button above:

For all the good moments that we've already shared. You who would bounce me on your knees for hours without my ever feeling like I was bothering you. You with whom I would spend whole afternoons by the lakeside waiting for the fish to finally rise to the bait. Even when our icebox [US: cooler] remained empty, we never went home empty-handed, for the time spent together was always worth its weight in gold. And you whose example taught me the meaning of the word "generosity". When I was visiting you, not a day went by without our going to give a hand to a neighbour or our keeping the old people of the local retirement home company. And still to this day, as I'm seeing you reproduce these familiar gestures with my own children, I know that they too will grow up with that nugget of joy in their hearts of which only uncle Christian has the secret.

Thinking...