Chapter 5 of The Inferno is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The Inferno is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
For a day, the Room remained vacant. Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment. Waiting had become a habit, an occupation. I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position. I arranged my life as for a new love.
Chapter 5 of The Inferno is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
plural of “appointment” — the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
From this reading “I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.”
not as far along as normal in development
From this reading “I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.”
freeing from false belief or illusions
From this reading “Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.”
-ing form of “lose” — fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading “I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.”
the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
From this reading “Waiting had become a habit, an occupation.”
a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune
From this reading “I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.”
void of intelligence or thought
From this reading “For a day, the Room remained vacant.”
plural of “walk” — the act of traveling by foot
From this reading “I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.”
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 For a day, the Room remained vacant.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Waiting had become a habit, an occupation.
plural of “appointment” — the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
disposed or placed in a particular kind of order
From this reading I arranged my life as for a new love.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading I arranged my life as for a new love.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
enter or assume a certain state or condition
From this reading Waiting had become a habit, an occupation.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading For a day, the Room remained vacant.
not as far along as normal in development
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
freeing from false belief or illusions
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading For a day, the Room remained vacant.
past form of “gain” — obtain
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
an established custom
From this reading Waiting had become a habit, an occupation.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
plural of “hope” — a specific instance of feeling hopeful
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading I arranged my life as for a new love.
-ing form of “lose” — fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
a strong positive emotion of regard and affection
From this reading I arranged my life as for a new love.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading I arranged my life as for a new love.
the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
From this reading Waiting had become a habit, an occupation.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
the particular portion of space occupied by something
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
past form of “remain” — stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading For a day, the Room remained vacant.
a source of danger; a possibility of incurring loss or misfortune
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading For a day, the Room remained vacant.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading For a day, the Room remained vacant.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
two times
From this reading Twice I had high hopes, then disillusionment.
void of intelligence or thought
From this reading For a day, the Room remained vacant.
the act of waiting (remaining inactive in one place while expecting something)
From this reading Waiting had become a habit, an occupation.
plural of “walk” — the act of traveling by foot
From this reading I put off appointments, delayed my walks, gained time at the risk of losing my position.
Chapter 5 of The Inferno by Henri Barbusse holds 400 sentences, grouped into 80 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, 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 5 holds 400 sentences of The Inferno, unabridged, divided into 80 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The Inferno by Henri Barbusse exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 400 sentences, grouped into 80 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 80 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 80 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 5 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 The Inferno by Henri Barbusse on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3518 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #12414 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #12414, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 293 minutes of reading across 704 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Inferno section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of The Inferno 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 The Inferno, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
