The French verb RENDRE and 7 combinations

Struggling to hear that group of verbs ending in ‘rendre?

Let’s do something related to the verbs ending in -RENDRE at intermediate French level.

We’re often quite happy when we start mastering French verbs . . . then along comes an irregular one.  And to make things worse, it always seems to be one of the most common ones. 

So here, I have created a paragraph for you, to use as a listening exercise, in different tenses based largely on 6 verbs ending in -RENDRE.

These verbs are:

Prendre

Rendre

Comprendre

Apprendre

Descendre

Défendre

Attendre

Entendre

Why is dictation also beneficial to your learning?

When it comes to learning a new language, dictation has fantastic results. Why?

Because it requires a lot of concentration, deciphering the words in sentences, guessing the spelling, and so on. Try it before you look at the script. 

Watch the video, just listening first then again, trying to note everything you can.. Repeat it as many times as you like. You can even slow it down and use it for pronunciation practice. DON’T watch the video at first or you will see the text.    

Then, when you think you have finished it, click here in order to see the complete transcript of it and if you understood. If you used it for a dictation, then you can check your written version against the original.

Don’t despair if you don’t recognise all the words! This is the best exercise you can do because the more you practise dictations, the easier it gets to understand French.

My goal this year is to help you with your listening comprehension and offer you various listening activities during the year.

If you struggle with your listening skills and are looking to have more fluid conversations with like-minded people at your level of French, then check out how having a teacher support in small groups could make a massive difference to your spontaneous listening skills.

Here’s how joining Conversation Café can also help you understand spontaneous spoken French more easily.

Click here to check out our free conversation café sample pack.

Transcript and Translation 

Normalement, le matin, quand je me réveille, j’écoute les actualités à la radio en dépit du fait que je n’entends absolument rien - je suis normalement toujours en train de me réveiller.

Tout de même, j’attends la fin des actualités et puis je descends à la cuisine en pyjama où j’aime prendre un bon petit déjeuner typiquement français: un escargot ! (Pas un vrai: c’est le nom pour un pain aux raisins !) 

Je suis étudiante à l’université où j’étudie le français depuis quatre ans. Et aujourd’hui je vais y aller pour rendre ma dissertation. La deuxième copie. J’ai reçu de mauvaises notes et je dois défendre ma position pour recevoir ma maitrise. 

La réalité est que j’avais attendu trop longtemps avant de la rendre. Je n’avais pas bien compris qu’il fallait que je prenne rendez-vous avec les professeurs pour en discuter. 

Sans ça, j’ai dû attendre une semaine pour un autre rendez-vous. Et c’était trop tard. La date était déjà passée. J’ai expliqué au directeur que ce n’était qu’un petit malentendu. Il ne voulait rien savoir.

And here’s the English . . .

Normally, in the morning, when I wake up, I listen to the news on the radio despite the fact that I don’t hear anything at all - I’m normally still waking up. 

All the same, I wait for the news to end and then I go down to the kitchen in my pyjamas where I like to have a typically French breakfast: a snail! (Not a real one: it’s the name for a raisin pastry in the form of a swirl!)

I’m a student at the University where I have been studying French for four years. And today I am going there to hand my dissertation in. The second copy. I got bad marks and I have to defend my position to get my masters. 

The reality is that I had waited too long to hand it in. I hadn’t quite understood that I needed to organise a meeting with with the professors to talk about it. 

Without that, I had to wait a week for another meeting. And it was too late. 

The date had already gone by. I explained to the principal that it was just a little misunderstanding. He didn’t want anything to do with it. 

Ta-dah!

And for your flowing conversations, get your free sample pack of Conversation café here!

My goal this year is to help you with your listening comprehension and offer you various listening activities during the year.

Feel free to tell me how you get on with it - I love getting emails and nice comments on my YouTube channel.