The Three Musketeers

The story

Young d'Artagnan arrives in Paris from Gascony with a letter, a yellow horse and a hot temper. On his first day he challenges three musketeers — Athos, Porthos and Aramis — to three duels.

Instead of fighting each other, the four become inseparable friends and race to save the Queen's honour from Cardinal Richelieu and the dangerous Milady de Winter.

Themes: friendship and loyalty, honour, court intrigue, 17th-century France.

Why it's a good book for language learners

Dumas writes fast, funny dialogue and keeps the plot moving with cliffhangers. The four friends have very different personalities and ways of speaking, which helps you hear different registers. In French it is a cornerstone classic for intermediate readers.

What you'll practise

• Honour, duels and court vocabulary
• Lively dialogue and insults
• Imperative and exclamations
• Historical vocabulary of 17th-century France

Did you know?

The famous motto “All for one, one for all” appears in the novel, though less often than people think.

The PageWalker adventure

In the adventure you ride with the musketeers, and your loyalty decides who survives the Cardinal's plots. The first page is free to play in your browser, and the adventure is available in 13 languages with click-to-translate.

The Three Musketeers in other languages

• EnglishThe Three Musketeers
• العربيةالفرسان الثلاثة
• DeutschDie drei Musketiere
• EspañolLos Tres Mosqueteros
• FrançaisLes Trois Mousquetaires
• हिन्दीतीन मस्किटियर्स
• ItalianoI tre moschettieri
• 日本語三銃士
• 한국어삼총사
• PortuguêsOs Três Mosqueteiros
• РусскийТри мушкетёра
• TürkçeÜç Silahşörler
• 简体中文三个火枪手