Level A1 · Lesson 11
The left arm
Le bras gauche
Rozaine shows his arm: no wound. But it is the left arm… And suddenly lady Jerland comes rushing across the deck, white as a sheet.
The story
Monsieur Rozaine montre son bras à notre groupe. Ce bras est blanc, sans blessure.
Mr Rozaine shows his arm to our group. This arm is white, without a wound.
Tout le monde est soulagé. Mais miss Nelly et moi, nous échangeons un regard.
Everybody is relieved. But miss Nelly and I exchange a look.
Ce bras, c’est le bras gauche ! Le télégramme dit : « blessure, avant-bras droit ». Ces mots sont très clairs.
That arm is the left arm! The telegram says: “wound, right forearm”. Those words are very clear.
Cet homme est blond, il voyage seul, son nom commence par R… et il montre le mauvais bras.
This man is blond, he travels alone, his name begins with R… and he shows the wrong arm.
Je pense : « Cette histoire est bizarre. Ce monsieur cache son bras droit. »
I think: “This business is odd. This gentleman is hiding his right arm.”
Je commence une phrase : « Monsieur Rozaine, et votre bras droit ? » Mais à cet instant, il y a un cri sur le pont.
I begin a sentence: “Mr Rozaine, what about your right arm?” But at that moment there is a scream on deck.
C’est lady Jerland, l’amie de miss Nelly. Elle arrive très vite. Cette pauvre dame est pâle et elle tremble.
It is lady Jerland, miss Nelly’s friend. She arrives in a great hurry. The poor lady is pale and trembling.
« Mes bijoux ! Mes perles ! Un voleur ! Il y a un voleur sur ce bateau ! »
“My jewels! My pearls! A thief! There is a thief on this ship!”
Tout le monde entoure lady Jerland. Le bras gauche de Rozaine ? Pour le moment, nous oublions ce détail.
Everybody crowds round lady Jerland. Rozaine’s left arm? For now, we forget that detail.
Vocabulary
- le bras: the arm
- l’avant-bras: the forearm
- la main: the hand
- la blessure: the wound
- le regard: the look, the glance
- gauche: left
- droit / droite: right
- à gauche: on the left, to the left
- à droite: on the right, to the right
- tout droit: straight on
- mauvais / mauvaise: wrong, bad
- ce bras: this arm, that arm
- cet homme: this man, that man
- cette dame: this lady, that lady
- ces mots: these words, those words
- à cet instant: at that moment
- le cri: the cry, the scream
- le bijou / les bijoux: the jewel / the jewels
- la perle: the pearl
- le voleur / la voleuse: the thief
- le détail: the detail
- l’histoire (f.): the story, the business
- pâle: pale
- bizarre: odd, strange
- soulagé / soulagée: relieved
- cacher: to hide
- trembler: to tremble, to shake
- oublier: to forget
- échanger: to exchange
- entourer: to surround, to gather round
Ce, cet, cette, ces (this, that). Left and right
When you point at something, French uses a demonstrative: the word for “this” or “that”. Like le and la, it has to match the noun’s gender and number, so there are four forms.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | ce bras cet homme | ces bras ces hommes |
| feminine | cette dame | ces dames |
Why cet? For the same reason le becomes l’: French hates two vowels bumping into each other. Ce homme would leave a little gap in your mouth, so a t is slipped in: cet homme, cet instant, cet Italien. It is still masculine, but it sounds exactly like cette. Your ears cannot tell them apart; only the spelling can.
Ces is the easy one: one word for every plural, masculine or feminine, and it sounds like “say”. Before a vowel, its s wakes up as a z: ces‿hommes, “say-zom”.
This or that? French usually does not bother. Ce bras is “this arm” or “that arm”, and the situation decides. If you really need to point at two things, add -ci (here) or -là (there) to the noun: ce bras-ci, this arm; ce bras-là, that arm. In the story, Bernard does not need to: everybody is staring at the same arm.
Left and right. Gauche and droit are adjectives, so they go after the noun and agree with it: le bras gauche, la main gauche, le bras droit, la main droite. To give directions, use à gauche and à droite, with no article: la cabine est à droite. And tout droit means “straight on”, not “all right”: ask for directions in Paris and you will hear it a lot.
Leblanc in the original
«Mes yeux croisèrent ceux de miss Nelly: il avait montré le bras gauche.»My eyes met miss Nelly’s: he had shown his left arm.