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plaire at C2 — literary & formal

« plaire » — jump to your level:A1A2B1B2C1C2Native

Formal & literary « plaire » — recognise it, use it sparingly.

Literary & formal

Mastery-level « plaire »: the register of literature, formal correspondence and public speech. Be strategic about what mastery means here — you need to recognise these forms instantly when you read Le Monde or a novel, but deploy them rarely and deliberately, the way a native writer does: for effect.

Read each example aloud once — hearing formal French in your own voice is what makes it stop feeling foreign — then note the one you’re most likely to meet in reading.

💡 Focus at this level: Formal & rare

👨‍🏫 How to work at C2

Treat these forms like an actor treats an accent: you need to recognise them instantly in books and speeches, and deploy them rarely, deliberately, for effect. Read one literary page aloud per day; when you meet a rare form of « plaire », copy the whole sentence into your notebook — context is the memory.

🔊 Example sentences

Plaise au tribunal…May it please the court…
Elle se plaît à contredire.She delights in contradicting.

✍️ Practice

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