The sentence workshop — complex French sentences for talking about projects at work.
Simple sentences are safe, but real project talk is not simple: you give opinions, explain causes, suggest, suppose, compare and push back — often all in one sentence. This workshop trains exactly that, in the world of a Canadian public servant and their projects. Pick a language function, arm yourself with project vocabulary, and build sentences that hold together. Start with the vocabulary flashcards below, then say your own sentence out loud in each activity — what you say is transcribed and compared with the expected French, and missing accents are ignored, so é, è and e all count the same.
Lesson 1 · Talking about projects
Level · Advanced (C)
Theme · Projects at work
4 activities
Progress meetings, deadlines, budgets, staffing — project talk is where complex sentences earn their keep. This page gives you the functions, the words and the situations to practise them.
Advanced Speaking · Quatre activités
Build, join, reply
Four ways to stretch a sentence. Start with the project words themselves, in flashcards. Then, in each speaking activity, you speak first — your own attempt matters more than the model — and only then compare what you said with the expected French sentence. Missing accents are never counted as mistakes here. The functions carry the F-numbers of the Canada School of Public Service fonctions langagières aide-mémoire they come from.
1 · Vocabulary First
Les mots des projets
Start here, before you build anything: the project words this workshop keeps using. Tap a card to flip it and see the English — the word is pronounced as it flips, and the speaker button lets you hear it again without flipping. Learn these twelve and every situation, starter and model below gets easier.
2 · The Sentence Builder
Le constructeur de phrases
Step 1 · Pick a situation — la situation
Step 2 · Pick a function — que veux-tu faire?
Step 3 · Pick a project word — le vocabulaire des projets
Step 4 · Starters for this function — pick one and build with it
Step 5 · Speak Now!
Say this in French
Read the English, plan your French sentence with a starter and your project word, then tap the microphone and say it out loud. What you say is transcribed and compared with the expected French sentence.
You said
Expected in French
3 · Two Sentences, One
Deux phrases, une seule
Two short, flat sentences about a project — the kind beginners hide behind. Your job: join them into one complex sentence using the given function. No typing — just speaking. Plan your joined sentence, tap the microphone and say it out loud, then see how closely it matches the expected French sentence.
Join them with:
Say the joined sentence in French
Read the English, plan your joined sentence with the function above, then tap the microphone and say it out loud. What you say is transcribed and compared with the expected French sentence.
You said
Expected in French
4 · In the Meeting
En réunion — jeu de rôle
You are in a project meeting and a colleague turns to you. Read what they say, then reply out loud using the given function and the project word — no typing, just speaking, the way you would actually have to produce it in the room. Tap the microphone, say your reply, and see how closely it matches the expected French reply.
Reply with:and the word
Say your reply in French
Read the English, plan your reply with a starter, the function and the project word above, then tap the microphone and say it out loud. What you say is transcribed and compared with the expected French reply.
