Last-minute hesitations

"Hésitations de dernière minute"
French C1 writing exercise

François is torn between his love for Marianne and his duty to the Duchess who he's about to marry.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "the Duchess", "my whole soul", "to belong to", "to deny [doing]", "to struggle in vain", "to keep one's word", "such was/were...", "to wrestle with (ideas)", "to tie a bow tie", "feverish (activity)".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2024-09-02

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: L'Imparfait (Indicatif), Adverbe, Pronom d'objet direct

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

Had I made the right choice after all? Was I going to marry the Duchess - herself the victim of this absurd situation - when my heart and my whole soul still belonged to you? In spite of all my efforts, in spite of reason, in spite of myself, I couldn't deny loving you with all my being any longer. After struggling in vain, I was now hoping that a miracle would come and free me from this situation, of which I was the unfortunate prisoner. But I had to keep my word, that was better for everyone. Such were the thoughts I was wrestling with while tying my bow tie with a feverish hand, when suddenly I saw you at my window.

Let me take a look at that...