The heatwave in Paris

"La canicule à Paris"
French B1 writing exercise

Parisian friends Olivia and Éric catch up after the June 2026 heatwave.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to come back from [somewhere]", "luckily", "air-con", "to work (= to function)", "to be so hot (outside)", "a flat [US: apartement] under the roof", "a thermometer", "unbearable", "to cover [something] with [something]", "foil [US: aluminum foil]", "a (public) library", "in the daytime", "to manage to [do]", "to sleep", "to wet [an object]", "(bed)sheets", "to put [something] in the freezer", "that way...", "chilled (object)", "at night", "to help [someone] to [do]", "to fall asleep", "to hope that ...", "a heatwave", "not... any time soon".

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE
Last updated: 2026-07-22

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: Le Passé Composé (Indicatif), L'Imparfait (Indicatif), Verbes avec être comme auxiliaire

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

- Hi Olivia! When did you come back from Normandy? - Yesterday. Luckily, my train's air-con was working! - Oh yes, it's been so hot here! In my flat [US: apartment] under the roof, the thermometer read 40°C. - Unbearable! How did you hold up? - I covered my windows with foil [US: aluminum foil] and I went to the public library in the daytime. - Did you manage to sleep? - A bit. During the day, I would wet my sheets and I would put them in the freezer. That way, they were chilled at night, which helped me to fall asleep. - Let's hope that there won't be another heatwave any time soon!

Thinking...