français · B1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Environment and climate
Discuss problems, individual actions, and public environmental choices.
Understand the choice
Environmental discussion becomes precise when a general concern is linked to a cause, consequence, and response. Separate pollution from climate, weather events from long-term change, and personal habits from public policy.
Core rule: Réduire, trier, recycler, économiser, and protéger combine with concrete environmental objects.
Notice it in context
La ville réduit ses déchets et développe les énergies renouvelables.
The city is reducing its waste and developing renewable energy.
Déchets is plural; énergies renouvelables agrees in number and gender.
Le recyclage permet de limiter la pollution.
Recycling helps limit pollution.
Permettre de introduces the useful effect; recyclage and pollution are distinct processes.
La sécheresse augmente le risque d’incendie.
Drought increases the risk of fire.
Sécheresse names prolonged dryness and risque de introduces the consequence.
What to remember
- Trier les déchets means sort waste; recycler describes processing usable material.
- Empreinte carbone is a carbon footprint, while trace is a physical or figurative mark.
Common trap: Do not use temps for long-term climate. Le temps is weather at a moment; le climat is the broader pattern.