Today we’ll have a look at lycée, meaning “high school”. I put this word on my list as many students get confused with the pronunciation and gender. People want to say “lie-say” when the pronunciation is “lee-say”. Additionally, people think the word is feminine when in reality it’s masculine: le lycée.
le lycée – [lise]
high school
Le Lycée – High School In French
Word origin
The Modern French masculine noun le lycée (high school) comes from lyceum in Latin, which in turn comes from Λύκειον (lúkeion) in Ancient Greek.
Example sentences
This first sentence is audiobiographical. I studied in a French high school in Douai, France for one year in 1991-92. I’ve included a picture of the high school at the bottom of the post!
J’ai étudié pendant un an dans un lycée français dans le nord le France.
I studied in a French high school for one year in the north of France.
This next example sentence uses the construction avant de + infinitive, which means “before verb + ing”.
Les jeunes vont au lycée avant d’aller à l’université.
Young people go to high school before going to university.
In French, the word for high school student changes based on gender: un lycéen (masculine) and une lycéenne (feminine).
Marc est un lycéen. Julie est une lycéenne.
Marc is a high school student. Julie is a high school student.
Related lessons
- Le Collège – middle school
- School vocabulary (classroom terms)
- School subjects
- Une interrogation – quiz
References
