Explain a French sentence
Apprendr explains this sentence at your CEFR level: the meaning first, then the grammar that actually matters, then vocabulary, audio, and review material.
The sentence
Les chercheurs ont découvert que les élèves qui lisent régulièrement obtiennent de meilleurs résultats.
Researchers found that students who read regularly get better results.
A representative sentence of the kind that shows up in news articles and school reading: one main clause, a relative clause, and a comparative.
The same sentence, explained twice
This is the part a plain translation cannot do. Read the level closest to yours, or read both and notice what changes.
- Les chercheurs ont découvert means the researchers found. The event is finished, so it is in the past.
- que les élèves … obtiennent means that students … get. The second half is about something still true, so it stays in the present.
- Reading it plainly: researchers found that students who read regularly get better results.
- The main clause is passé composé (ont découvert) but the subordinate stays in the present (lisent, obtiennent). French keeps the present for a fact that is still true, where English often shifts to the past. Matching the tenses here would read as though reading habits had stopped.
- qui lisent régulièrement is a defining relative clause with no comma: it narrows down which students, rather than adding a side comment. Add commas and the sense changes from "students who read" to "the students, who all read".
- de meilleurs résultats: de replaces des because an adjective sits before the plural noun. des meilleurs résultats would read as "of the best results" instead of "better results".
Vocabulary
- les chercheurs
- researchers
- régulièrement
- regularly
- obtenir
- to obtain, to get — obtenir is the infinitive; obtiennent is the ils/elles present form.
- de meilleurs résultats
- better results — meilleur is the comparative of bon. The de is doing real work here — see the B2 note.
What happens after the explanation
Hear it
Open the same sentence in Apprendr to play the French audio and repeat it aloud.
Keep the pattern
The grammar note and vocabulary are saved with the sentence, so the explanation stays attached to the text you actually met.
Come back to it
Saved sentences return as review material rather than disappearing after one read.
Review prompt
Cover the translation and recall what the sentence says, then say in French what changed for the students and why.
Common questions
What does level-aware mean here?
The same sentence is explained differently depending on your level. At A2 you get the meaning and the two structures you need. At B2 you get why the tenses do not match and what the relative clause is doing. Neither is a watered-down version of the other.
Why explain the grammar at all?
Because a translation alone leaves the pattern invisible. The B2 note on this page is a good example: matching the tenses would read as though reading habits had stopped, which the English translation does not reveal.
Can I use my own sentence?
Yes. Paste any French text into Apprendr and the same explanation, vocabulary, audio, and review material are generated for it at your level.