tourterelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

les tourtereaux
(tohr-tewr-elle)noun, plural
lovebirds

Had you been one of the two turtledoves coo-cooing up high on the French telephone fil, you might have spotted another couple, sans plumes, on the patio below.

There, under an old tuile-roofed terrace, just beneath the sleeping bignonia vine, a man and a woman sat, close as the tourterelles on the line above, sharing a small patch of soleil at the end of a long rectangular table, on which their coffee cups rested.

"Tu n'as pas trop froid?" said he.
"No, and you?" said she.

Comme ça, they softly spoke, cooing to one another, each in his (and her) own language.

 

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French Vocabulary

le fil
wire, cable

sans plumes
without feathers

la tuile
tile

le bignonia
trumpet vine

la tourterelle
turtledove

le soleil
sun

tu n'as pas trop froid?
you're not too cold?

comme ça
like that

 

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Listen to eight-year-old Jackie, pronounce the word 'tourterelle': Download tourterelle.wav

Synonyms for tourterelle: le pigeon, la colombe (dove), la palombe (ring-dove), le ramier (woodpigeon)