B2Unit 3 of the B2 course · « Société et environnement »
Society and the environment are favourite DELF B2 topics. This page gives you the vocabulary in whole phrases, the difference between grâce à and à cause de, and ways to show cause and consequence.
By the end of this unit you can: discuss social issues in depth.
Environmental French is built from fixed noun phrases. Learn each one whole, with its gender: le réchauffement climatique, les gaz à effet de serre (m), l'empreinte carbone (f), les énergies renouvelables (f, usually plural).
Climate change looks different across the French-speaking world: drought and an advancing desert in the Sahel, where the Grande Muraille verte (Great Green Wall) is restoring a belt of land from Senegal to Djibouti; flooding in coastal cities like Abidjan, Cotonou and Douala; and melting glaciers in Switzerland.
All three are followed by a noun. Choose by tone: grâce à for a good cause, à cause de for a bad one, en raison de when you want to sound neutral and official. Before a full clause (subject + verb), use parce que, puisque or comme instead.
To present a result, start a sentence with c'est pourquoi or par conséquent, link two clauses with si bien que, or use a verb like entraîner + noun. Si bien que takes the indicative.
Social debate in French leans on nouns: les inégalités (almost always plural), la pauvreté, le chômage, le pouvoir d'achat. Pair them with verbs of change to sound natural: les inégalités se creusent (are widening), le chômage recule (is falling), le pouvoir d'achat baisse (is dropping).
Build the passive with être in the tense you need, plus a past participle that agrees with the subject. The agent comes after par. In everyday speech, French often prefers on: on a construit une école rather than une école a été construite.
Headlines and formal writing turn verbs into nouns to pack in more information. Common patterns: -tion (interdire → l'interdiction), -ment (licencier → le licenciement), -age (nettoyer → le nettoyage), or just the stem (hausser → la hausse, baisser → la baisse). Watch the gender: -tion is feminine, -ment and -age are masculine.
Headlines often drop verbs and articles altogether. Rebuild the full sentence in your head: « Hausse du prix du carburant : les transporteurs en grève » means the price of fuel is going up and the hauliers are on strike.
It's 7.45 a.m. on a pan-African French-language radio station. Journalist Koffi Mensah presents Le journal de l'environnement: floods in Abidjan, the Great Green Wall, and rising food prices. B2 means following the news at real speed, so listen closely.
Tap 🔊 to hear each one, recorded by a native-sounding French voice.
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| réchauffement climatique(masculine) | global warmingYou'll also hear le dérèglement climatique (climate disruption), since it's not only about heat. | |
| gaz à effet de serre(masculine) | greenhouse gasSame form in the plural: les gaz à effet de serre. Une serre = a greenhouse. | |
| empreinte carbone(feminine) | carbon footprintRéduire son empreinte carbone = to cut your carbon footprint. | |
| énergies renouvelables(feminine) | renewable energyUsually plural in French: l'énergie solaire, éolienne (wind), hydraulique… | |
| développement durable(masculine) | sustainable developmentDurable here means sustainable, built to last. | |
| sécheresse(feminine) | droughtFrom sec, dry. | |
| inondation(feminine)Chaque saison des pluies, des inondations touchent plusieurs quartiers de Cotonou. (Every rainy season, floods hit several districts of Cotonou.) | flood / flooding | |
| déchets(masculine) | waste / rubbishUsually plural. Le tri des déchets = sorting waste for recycling. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| en raison deEn raison de fortes pluies, l'école est fermée. (Owing to heavy rain, the school is closed.) | due to / owing toNeutral and formal: you'll hear it in every official announcement. | |
| être dû àCes inondations sont dues à des pluies exceptionnelles. (These floods are due to exceptional rainfall.) | to be due to / to be caused byDû agrees: due, dus, dues. Only the masculine singular has the circumflex. | |
| c'est pourquoiLe carburant coûte cher, c'est pourquoi je prends le bus. (Fuel is expensive; that's why I take the bus.) | that's why | |
| si bien queIl a plu toute la nuit, si bien que les routes sont coupées. (It rained all night, so the roads are cut off.) | so / with the result thatLinks two clauses and introduces a result, with the indicative. | |
| entraîner | to lead to / to bring aboutAlso: provoquer, causer. Entraîner also means to train (for sport). |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| inégalités(feminine) | inequality / inequalitiesUsually plural in French: les inégalités sociales. Les inégalités se creusent = inequality is widening. | |
| pauvreté(feminine) | poverty | |
| chômage(masculine) | unemploymentÊtre au chômage = to be unemployed. Un chômeur, une chômeuse = an unemployed person. | |
| pouvoir d'achat(masculine) | purchasing power / spending powerA constant theme in French politics: le pouvoir d'achat baisse. | |
| logement(masculine) | housing / accommodationLa crise du logement = the housing crisis. Les logements sociaux = social housing. | |
| l'accès à | access toL'accès à l'eau potable, à l'éducation, aux soins (healthcare). | |
| exode rural(masculine) | rural exodus (moving from the countryside to cities) | |
| discrimination(feminine) | discriminationLa discrimination à l'embauche = discrimination in hiring. |
| Listen | French | English |
|---|---|---|
| interdiction(feminine) | banFrom interdire. L'interdiction des sacs plastiques = the plastic bag ban. | |
| mise en place(feminine) | setting up / introduction (of a system)From mettre en place. | |
| mesure(feminine) | measure / stepPrendre des mesures = to take steps. | |
| enjeu(masculine) | issue / what's at stakePlural: les enjeux. Les enjeux climatiques = the climate issues. | |
| manifestation(feminine) | demonstration / protestInformal: une manif. It can also mean an event: une manifestation culturelle. | |
| sensibiliser | to raise awareness (among)Sensibiliser le public à un problème. The noun: la sensibilisation. |
This unit is part of French Ultimate's B2 course: 5 short lessons with an animated video each, speaking and listening practice, a reading and an end-of-unit test.
Start the lessons free