Alvin et Mimi: French Short Stories

A small squirrel moves into the neighborhood and disturbs a cat's peaceful life…


Five short stories for intermediate students of French with glossary and English translation. The short stories are written in past tense, helping you practice the passé composé, the imparfait, and the plus-que parfait in an easy way. The sentences are relatively simple, using everyday vocabulary.


Always learn new words in a sentence, preferably in a sentence that relates to your experience, as it is a lot easier to commit the words to memory that way.


Each chapter is accompanied by a list of the harder words and expressions to help you understand the text without the use of a dictionary. The complete English translation is included, so that you can double-check your understanding. 


When reading, be aware of liaison, the pronunciation of a final consonant that is normally silent because the word that follows begins with a vowel. The final consonant of the first word phonetically becomes a part of the first syllable of the second word (les‿amis, lay-za-mee). Liaison, which students often find challenging, will be marked with an undertie sign ‿ (for example, en‿avril).