French–English parallel text
Le compte
The Count
DuoText
A free bilingual French–English edition: the French text with the English beside it, paragraph by paragraph. Read it online, or download it as a dual-language ebook.
Opening the reader…
Jeudi, à 9 h 10, madame Lund monte à la gare. Elle a un petit livre et un compteur.
At 9:10 on Thursday Mrs Lund gets on at the station. She has a small book and a counter.
« Bonsoir, madame Ferreira. Je m’assois au fond. Ne me parlez pas. »
“Good evening, Ms Ferreira. I sit at the back. Don’t talk to me.”
« Bonsoir, madame Lund. »
“Good evening, Mrs Lund.”
Elle lève le compteur. « Seulement les passagers. Pas moi. »
She holds up the counter. “Only passengers. Not me.”
Puis ils arrivent.
Then they come.
L’infirmière et ses deux amies de l’hôpital. Clic, clic, clic. Les quatre garçons de la cuisine du restaurant, très contents. Clic, clic, clic, clic. Monsieur Kaplan, avec son grand chapeau. Clic. La femme avec le bébé. Clic, clic. La femme de la pharmacie. Deux étudiants. Un homme de ma liste avec un chien. Est-ce qu’un chien compte ? Non. L’homme compte.
The nurse and her two friends from the hospital. Click, click, click. The four boys from the restaurant kitchen, very happy. Click, click, click, click. Mr Kaplan, with his big hat. Click. The woman with the baby. Click, click. The woman from the chemist. Two students. A man from my list with a dog. Does a dog count? No. The man counts.
Et d’autres. Des gens de ma liste, des gens de mon bus. Des visages connus, des visages nouveaux. Clic, clic, clic.
And more. People from my list, people from my bus. Old faces, new faces. Click, click, click.
Puis une voiture s’arrête à côté de mon bus. Hamid descend. Hamid ! À la gare ! Son magasin est fermé une heure, pour ça.
Then a car stops next to my bus. Hamid gets out. Hamid! At the station! His shop is closed for an hour, for this.
« Un ticket, s’il vous plaît. Pour mon magasin. »
“One ticket, please. To my shop.”
Clic.
Click.
Puis une petite femme monte, dans son beau manteau du dimanche. Ma mère.
Then a small woman gets on, in her good Sunday coat. My mother.
« Mãe ! Tu ne prends jamais mon bus ! »
“Mãe! You never take my bus!”
« Je suis là. » Elle me donne son ticket. Puis elle le dit, très bas : « Et maintenant, tu amènes l’homme au déjeuner de Noël. »
“I’m here.” She gives me her ticket. Then she says it, very quietly: “And now you bring the man to Christmas lunch.”
« Quel homme ? »
“What man?”
Free ebook for Kindle, Kobo and other e-readers. Download this parallel text as EPUB, or as AZW3 and MOBI for a Kindle over USB, with a free account. No payment. How to get it onto your e-reader
The full story continues in the reader. Want your own book like this? Make a parallel text from any book.
The same story in German with English · Greek with English · English with German · English with Greek · English with Spanish · English with French · English with Hindi · English with Indonesian · English with Italian · English with Japanese · English with Korean · English with Dutch · English with Polish · English with Portuguese · English with Romanian · English with Turkish · English with Vietnamese · English with Chinese · Spanish with English · Hindi with English · Indonesian with English · Italian with English · Japanese with English · Korean with English · Dutch with English · Polish with English · Portuguese with English · Romanian with English · Turkish with English · Vietnamese with English · Chinese with English · all languages