Memories of WWII in France

"Souvenirs de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale en France"
French B1 writing exercise

Thérèse and Michel recall their childhood during the Second World War.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to remember [something]", "the war", "an army", "German/Germany", "to invade", "to change", "so + [adj.]", "peaceful (place)", "to hide", "a basement", "in secret", "illegal", "extremely", "what about you ?", "to be part of [something]", "the Resistance/a Resistant fighter", "to take risks", "to pass [something] on to [someone]", "to leave to join [someone]", "a captain", "to fight".

Written by qualified French expert Céline Pickard PGCE, BA
Last updated: 2025-06-05

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: Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), Préposition, L'Imparfait (Indicatif)

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

- Thérèse, do you remember the war? - Of course Michel! When the German army invaded France in 1940, everything changed in my village which used to be so peaceful before. My father would hide in our basement in order to listen to Radio Londres in secret because it was illegal and extremely dangerous. What about you, Michel? Wasn't your uncle part of the Resistance? - Yes, he often took great risks while passing messages on to Resistance fighters for example. In 1941, he left to join General de Gaulle in London. Then, he became a captain in the Free French Forces. In June 1944, he fought on the D-Day beaches in Normandy.

Clever stuff happening!