SACE Stage 2 French (beginners) cheat sheet

Formal vs informal address: use 'vous' with strangers, elders, and in professional settings; use 'tu' with peers, friends, and family. When unsure, start with 'vous' and wait for an invitation to switch.

Greeting formulas: 'Bonjour' (good day), 'Bonsoir' (good evening), 'Salut' (hi/bye, informal). For leaving: 'Au revoir', 'À bientôt', 'À tout à l'heure' (see you later today).

Politeness markers: 's'il vous plaît' (formal please), 's'il te plaît' (informal please), 'merci', 'merci beaucoup', 'je vous en prie' / 'je t'en prie' (you're welcome).

Asking for clarification: 'Pouvez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ?' (Can you repeat?), 'Comment ?' (informal), 'Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire ?' (What does that mean?), 'Plus lentement, s'il vous plaît' (More slowly please).

Turn-taking phrases: 'Excusez-moi de vous interrompre' (Excuse me for interrupting), 'Je voudrais ajouter que…' (I'd like to add that…), 'D'accord, mais…' (Agree, but…).

Expressing opinion: 'À mon avis…' (In my opinion), 'Je pense que…' (I think that…), 'Je trouve que…' (I find that…), 'Je ne suis pas d'accord' (I disagree).

Question formation in spoken French: use intonation ('Tu viens ?'), 'est-ce que' ('Est-ce que tu viens ?'), or inversion ('Viens-tu ?'). In informal speech, drop 'ne' in negation: 'Je sais pas' instead of 'Je ne sais pas'.

Common fillers and discourse markers: 'alors' (so/then), 'donc' (therefore), 'ben' (well, informal), 'en fait' (in fact), 'bref' (in short), 'écoute' (listen).

Listening for gist: identify the main idea, speakers' relationship, and setting from keywords and tone before focusing on details.

Numbers and dates: 'deux' (2), 'douze' (12), 'vingt' (20), 'soixante-dix' (70), 'quatre-vingts' (80), 'quatre-vingt-dix' (90). Dates: 'le premier janvier' (1 Jan), 'le deux février' (2 Feb).

Time expressions: 'il est huit heures' (8:00), 'huit heures et quart' (8:15), 'huit heures et demie' (8:30), 'neuf heures moins le quart' (8:45).

Liaison and enchaînement: 'les amis' pronounced [lezami], 'vous avez' [vuzave], 'il est' [ile]. These sound changes affect comprehension.

Silent final consonants: most final consonants are silent ('petit' [pəti], 'grand' [ɡʁɑ̃]), but may be pronounced before a vowel (liaison).

Nasal vowels: 'on' [ɔ̃], 'an/en' [ɑ̃], 'in/ain' [ɛ̃], 'un' [œ̃]. Distinguish 'beau' [bo] vs 'bon' [bɔ̃].

Recognizing registers: formal speech uses 'nous', full negation 'ne…pas', and 'vous'; informal speech uses 'on', dropped 'ne', and 'tu'.

Responding appropriately: match the register of the speaker, use 'oui/non/si' (si = yes to a negative question), and ask for repetition if needed.

Scanning for cognates and near-cognates: many French words resemble English ('important', 'possible', 'nation'), but watch for false friends: 'actuellement' = currently (not actually), 'éventuellement' = possibly (not eventually), 'librairie' = bookshop (not library).

Text types and their features: emails (greeting 'Bonjour', closing 'Cordialement'), articles (headline, lead paragraph), letters (date, address, formulaic opening/closing), instructions (imperative verbs).

Identifying verb tenses to locate events in time: présent (current), passé composé (completed past), imparfait (ongoing past), futur proche ('aller + infinitive'), futur simple (future).

Pronoun reference: 'il/elle' refers to a previously mentioned noun; 'le/la/les' as object pronouns refer back; 'y' = there/to it; 'en' = some/of it.

Connectors that signal logical relations: 'mais' (but), 'donc' (so), 'parce que' (because), 'pourtant' (however), 'en effet' (indeed), 'par conséquent' (therefore).

Recognizing negation: 'ne…pas' (not), 'ne…jamais' (never), 'ne…rien' (nothing), 'ne…personne' (nobody), 'ne…plus' (no longer). In written French, 'ne' is usually present.

Register clues in writing: 'vous' vs 'tu', formal closings ('Veuillez agréer…'), informal closings ('Bisous', 'À plus').

Inferring meaning from context: use surrounding words and sentence structure to guess unfamiliar vocabulary; identify word families (e.g., 'travail', 'travailler', 'travailleur').

Agreement rules: adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun ('un petit garçon', 'une petite fille', 'des petits garçons'). Most adjectives add -e for feminine, -s for plural.

Regular verb endings: -er verbs (parler): parle, parles, parle, parlons, parlez, parlent. -ir verbs (finir): finis, finis, finit, finissons, finissez, finissent. -re verbs (vendre): vends, vends, vend, vendons, vendez, vendent.

Passé composé: auxiliary 'avoir' or 'être' + past participle. Most verbs use 'avoir'; movement/reflexive verbs use 'être' and the past participle agrees with the subject ('elle est allée').

Imparfait formation: stem from 'nous' form of present minus -ons, add -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. Used for descriptions, habits, and ongoing past actions.

Future proche: 'aller' (present) + infinitive ('je vais partir' = I am going to leave). Future simple: infinitive + endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont (irregular stems: ser-, aur-, ir-, fer-).

Negation placement: 'ne' before the verb, 'pas' after ('Je ne parle pas'). With passé composé: 'ne' before auxiliary, 'pas' after ('Je n'ai pas parlé').

Object pronouns: me, te, le/la, nous, vous, les before the verb ('Je le vois'). Indirect: lui, leur ('Je lui parle').

Writing conventions: capitalize proper nouns and sentence starts; use accents (é, è, ê, ç); punctuation spacing: space before : ; ! ? in French typography.