Chapter 20 of Father Goriot is here in full — 145 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of Father Goriot is here in full — 145 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.” “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot. “She has good taste, hasn’t she? Eh?” Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
Chapter 20 of Father Goriot is here in full — 145 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/29 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
a port city in southwestern France; a major center of the wine trade
From this reading ““Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.””
a glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
From this reading ““Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.””
on a floor below
From this reading “Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.”
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading “Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.”
under a moral obligation to do something
From this reading “Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.”
be seated
From this reading “Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.”
To perceive flavor through the mouth.
From this reading ““She has good taste, hasn’t she?”
look attentively
From this reading ““Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
the -ing form of “be”
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
a port city in southwestern France; a major center of the wine trade
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
a glass or plastic vessel used for storing drinks or other liquids; typically cylindrical without handles and with a narrow neck that can be plugged or capped
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
past form of “call” — assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
an institution created to conduct business
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
on a floor below
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Eh?”
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading “She has good taste, hasn’t she?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “She has good taste, hasn’t she?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “She has good taste, hasn’t she?
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
under a moral obligation to do something
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “She has good taste, hasn’t she?
be seated
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
carry out
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
To perceive flavor through the mouth.
From this reading “She has good taste, hasn’t she?
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
judge or regard; look upon; judge
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Here,” Vautrin called down to him, “come and take a bottle of my Bordeaux.”
look attentively
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Vautrin, Father Goriot, and Rastignac came downstairs in company, and, all three of them being late, were obliged to sit together.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Do you think your watch is pretty?” asked Goriot.
Chapter 20 of Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac holds 145 sentences, grouped into 29 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 20 holds 145 sentences of Father Goriot, unabridged, divided into 29 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 145 sentences, grouped into 29 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 29 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 29 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 20 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5569 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1237 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1237, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 464 minutes of reading across 1114 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Father Goriot section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 34 chapters of Father Goriot to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Father Goriot, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
