Coping with the heatwave

"Tenir le coup pendant la canicule"
French C1 writing exercise

Emma asks how Simon and his pregnant girlfriend Christelle coped with the extreme heat.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to cope with", "how unlucky to", "the air-con", "to break down (machine)", "the suburbs of Paris", "No wonder!", "to cool down (temperature)".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2023-02-15

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), Le Subjonctif Présent, Mode subjonctif

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

- How did you cope with last week's heatwave? It must have been particularly hard for poor Christelle. How unlucky to be pregnant in temperatures like these! - Yes, and our air-con broke down on the first day! So we had to go to my parents' house, in the suburbs of Paris, where it was a bit more bearable. For Christelle to be willing to leave the flat [US: apartment], I can tell you it was truly hell! - No wonder! But didn't you tell me that your parents had bought a swimming pool last summer? - Yes, I don't know what we would have done without it! On Friday, Christelle stayed in the water, in the shade, until we came to get her for dinner! - Let's hope it cools down in the coming days.

Clever stuff happening!