Prepare your note
This exercise asks you to turn a short instruction into a decision tree. You need to know what to try first, what to do if it fails, and what not to do. It is not advice for handling valuable or regulated deliveries. The example is fictional and contains no real access code or address. Keep the two branches separate on paper. A parcel cannot be left in both locations, so a flat list of places would miss the core meaning of the message.
Imagine that you deliver a small parcel to a building with a concierge. The recipient may be home, but you do not know. Make two rows headed recipient answers and recipient does not answer. Add a third line headed never. Read the French message and fill the rows. Notice that a later instruction may prevent a convenient action you would otherwise choose. Your task is to preserve the sender’s preference, not to invent the quickest delivery method.
Your scene task
Sonnez d’abord à l’appartement huit. Si je ne réponds pas, laissez le colis chez la concierge, au rez-de-chaussée.
Ne le laissez pas devant la porte. Si la concierge est absente aussi, merci de me rappeler.
Show English translations
First ring apartment eight. If I do not answer, leave the parcel with the concierge on the ground floor.
Do not leave it outside the door. If the concierge is also absent, please call me back.
Make your decision
Write the first action, the first fallback, and the second fallback. Identify the prohibited location. Then decide what happens if nobody answers anywhere. Do not treat the final instruction as an optional greeting. It completes the branch where the parcel has no authorised recipient. After checking your answer, cover the French and explain the process in three short instructions. If your version allows leaving the parcel outside a door, compare it again with the explicit negative sentence.
Open the answer key
First ring apartment eight. If the recipient does not answer, leave the parcel with the concierge on the ground floor. If the concierge is absent too, call the recipient back. Never leave the parcel outside the door. If nobody answers, the stated action is a call, not an unattended drop. The message does not specify what to do after an unanswered callback. That remains unknown. A good decision tree ends with the information provided rather than inventing permission for an extra delivery location.
The distinction that matters
Chez la concierge means with or at the concierge’s place in this setting. It does not instruct you to look for an unspecified neighbour. Rez-de-chaussée is the ground floor, not the first upper floor. Le in ne le laissez pas refers to le colis, the parcel. Aussi connects the concierge’s absence with the recipient’s absence. These small links are essential: without them, the last sentence can look like a general request to call even when the recipient has already accepted the parcel.
Try the task on your own video
For a chosen French clip with instructions, draw branches only where the speaker states a condition. We make Jibber Jabber. Its captions can help you inspect a phrase such as si je ne réponds pas in an available video. The app is not a delivery tool and cannot authorise a drop location. Avoid using private access information for practice. Keep your learning examples fictional or public, and judge success by whether the action order and forbidden choice remain correct after you stop looking at the text.
Questions and answers
Does rappeler mean remember here?
Here me rappeler means call me back. The delivery context determines the meaning.
Is the concierge upstairs?
No. The message places the concierge on the ground floor.
Can I choose a neighbour?
No neighbour is authorised in the exercise. Do not add one to the instruction.
Sources for this entry
- Jibber Jabber: matching French guide ↗. Publisher context for further practice. We make Jibber Jabber. Product access and pricing were checked against the official product facts on 9 November 2026.
- The French scene, translation, task, and key are original editorial examples. They are not quotations, recordings, or research evidence. Read our checking method and source policy.
Continue this reading path
Connected entries
- Follow French directions using landmarks
- Extract the action from a short French voice message
- Choose the backup plan in a French weather message
Terms used in this task: referent, condition.
Read the Jibber Jabber product profile for its limits.
How the related sites connect
This workbook is one of a coordinated collection of comprehensible input guides published by Jibber Jabber. They share one publisher and are not independent endorsements.
Cite this page
Jibber Jabber. “Follow French delivery instructions with a fallback.” French Listening Atelier. Updated 9 November 2026. https://frenchcomprehensibleinput.com/delivery-instructions/.