Level A1 · Lesson 6
Miss Nelly
Miss Nelly
Miss Nelly Underdown is American, but she lives in Paris. She is on her way to her very rich father in Chicago. The narrator is enchanted. He is not the only one.
The story
Le matin, sur le pont, je parle avec miss Nelly Underdown. Elle est très belle, et très curieuse.
In the morning, on deck, I talk with Miss Nelly Underdown. She is very beautiful, and very curious.
Nelly est américaine, mais elle habite à Paris. Elle parle français comme une Parisienne.
Nelly is American, but she lives in Paris. She speaks French like a Parisian.
La mère de Nelly est française. Le père de Nelly habite à Chicago, aux États-Unis. Il est très, très riche.
Nelly’s mother is French. Nelly’s father lives in Chicago, in the United States. He is very, very rich.
Aujourd’hui, Nelly quitte la France. Elle va à Chicago, chez le très riche monsieur Underdown.
Today Nelly is leaving France. She is going to Chicago, to the very rich Mr Underdown.
Elle voyage avec une amie anglaise, lady Jerland. Lady Jerland habite à Londres, en Angleterre.
She is travelling with an English friend, Lady Jerland. Lady Jerland lives in London, in England.
En première classe, les passagers arrivent de France, d’Angleterre, d’Italie… Mais tout le monde regarde Nelly.
In first class, the passengers come from France, from England, from Italy… But everybody looks at Nelly.
Les yeux de Nelly sont grands et noirs. Elle est élégante et très gaie.
Nelly’s eyes are big and dark. She is elegant and very cheerful.
Au dîner, je suis à côté de Nelly. Nous parlons en français et en anglais. Je suis enchanté !
At dinner I sit next to Nelly. We talk in French and in English. I am delighted!
Mais il y a un rival : un jeune homme blond, très calme, toujours près de Nelly…
But there is a rival: a quiet young man with fair hair, always close to Nelly…
Vocabulary
- la mère: the mother
- le père: the father
- la jeune fille: the young woman
- l’ami / l’amie: the friend
- le rival: the rival
- tout le monde: everybody
- habiter: to live (somewhere)
- quitter: to leave
- voyager: to travel
- arriver de: to come from, to arrive from
- regarder: to look at
- parler: to speak, to talk
- la France: France
- l’Angleterre: England
- l’Italie: Italy
- le Canada: Canada
- les États-Unis: the United States
- Londres: London
- beau / belle: beautiful, handsome
- riche: rich
- gai / gaie: cheerful
- noir / noire: black, dark
- parisien / parisienne: Parisian
- enchanté / enchantée: delighted
À Paris, en France, aux États-Unis: places
Cities are easy: one word, à, for both “in” and “to”. J’habite à Paris, I live in Paris. Je vais à Chicago, I am going to Chicago. For “from”, use de: je suis de Paris.
Countries are nouns, so they have a gender and an article, just like le bateau and la mer. The French say la France, le Canada, les États-Unis, with the article, even when English uses none. That article decides the little word in front:
| in / to | from | |
|---|---|---|
| city | à Paris | de Paris |
| feminine country (la) | en France | de France, d’Italie |
| masculine country (le) | au Canada | du Canada |
| plural country (les) | aux États-Unis | des États-Unis |
How do you know the gender? A handy rule that works most of the time: if the country ends in -e, it is feminine (la France, l’Angleterre, l’Italie, l’Espagne). Everything else is masculine (le Canada, le Japon, le Portugal). There are a few rebels, like le Mexique, but very few.
Au and aux are not new words. They are à + le and à + les glued together, because French refuses to say “à le”. You will meet this gluing again in lesson 13.
Nationalities. As adjectives they take a small letter: Nelly est américaine. As nouns, meaning “a person from”, they take a capital: elle parle comme une Parisienne. Same word, two jobs, and the capital tells you which job it is doing.
Leblanc in the original
«Élevée à Paris par une mère française, elle rejoignait son père, le richissime Underdown, de Chicago.»Raised in Paris by a French mother, she was on her way to join her father, the immensely rich Underdown of Chicago.