Regency French Phrases is a free browser modern-languages game, part of the game The Accomplished Young Lady. First you flip through a stack of the governess's flashcards. Each card shows an English thought on the front and turns over to reveal the French phrase a Regency drawing room would have used for it, along with a sharp reprimand for mangling it, covering indisposed, entre nous, contretemps, coup de grace, hors de question, and en desespoir de cause. Then, in the drawing room, you are given three English sentences and must choose the version that drops the French in correctly. Your answers are scored into a letter grade that is carried to the game's player card. No sign up or download is required.

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French and Modern Languages

A little French, dropped in the right place, is part of a lady's air. Dropped in the wrong place it is worse than none. Learn the six phrases the governess will allow, then prove you can place them.

Edmund Blair Leighton, 'The New Governess' (1894), a young woman in white on the step of a school for young ladies

The Lesson

Every young lady is supposed to have French, and most of them have just enough to embarrass themselves at a card table. The governess would rather you knew six phrases and placed them properly than knew sixty and flung them about. The drill comes in two parts. First her cards, one phrase at a time. Then three sentences in the drawing room, and you choose which one she would not wince at.

Only the three sentences are marked. The cards are yours to study as long as you like.

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