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How hard is Du côté de chez Swann to read?
Swann's Way
By Marcel Proust · In French
- Words for 95% of the text
- 7,518
- Sentence length
- 38.5 words
- Words beyond the 5,000 most common
- 69 per 1,000
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This is an advanced read in French. Proust's sentences are very long, often running through several clauses and digressions before they land, and that, more than the vocabulary, which is mostly common, is what makes the book hard. Dialogue is only a small part of the text; most of it is the narrator's memory and reflection, so little of the context comes from conversation. It suits readers who are already comfortable with long, winding French prose.
MnemoRead measured this book from its full text: how many of the language's most common words you need to follow it, and how long its sentences are.
How hard this book is
Harder than 85% of our French books
The score rises with the words needed to cover 95% of the text and with sentence length. It is the same in every language. Books within about ten points of each other read about as hard.
- Words for 95% of the text
- 7,518
- Sentence length
- 38.5 words
- One sentence in ten runs past 84 words
- Length
- Novel
- 181,116 words · 8+ hours
- Words beyond the 5,000 most common
- 69 per 1,000
- Dialogue
- 19%
Vocabulary needed
Share of the text covered by the most common words of the language.
Names of people and places count as known words.
Show the numbers
| Most common words | Share of the text |
|---|---|
| 100 | 66.5% |
| 250 | 73.2% |
| 500 | 77.9% |
| 1,000 | 82.6% |
| 2,000 | 87.4% |
| 3,000 | 90.0% |
| 5,000 | 93.1% |
| 7,500 | 95.0% |
| 10,000 | 96.3% |
| 15,000 | 97.6% |
| 20,000 | 98.4% |
| 30,000 | 99.1% |
CEFR word lists
Share of the text each level's words cover, with the levels below it. The book's vocabulary is rated at the first level to reach 95%.
Words to learn first
The words this book uses most that are not among the 5,000 most common of the language, with how often each appears.
- fût×113
- grand'mère×77
- écrier×48
- tâcher×45
- clocher×41
- quelquefois×41
- grand'tante×34
- jalousie×33
- pianiste×32
- reflet×32
- tendresse×32
- mondain×31
- chagrin×30
- sonate×30
- songer×29
- cocher×26
- bonté×24
- douloureux×24
- duchesse×24
- ennuyeux×24
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