SACE Stage 2 French (continuers) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

tu versus vous

Tu marks solidarity with peers, family, and children; vous marks distance or respect with strangers, officials, and elders. The choice depends on relationship and setting, not on the language learner's preference.

est-ce que inversion

Three question forms exist in spoken French: statement plus rising intonation (informal), est-ce que (neutral), and verb-subject inversion (formal). Mixing inversion with slang produces an inconsistent register.

ne deletion in speech

Spoken French routinely drops ne: je sais pas, c'est pas grave, y a pas de problème. The ne is retained in formal oral registers such as a presentation or an interview with an official.

circumlocution strategy

When a word is unknown, describe its function or category instead of stopping: c'est l'appareil qui sert à…, une sorte de…, comment on dit déjà. Fluent paraphrase scores better than silence.

liaison rules

Liaison is obligatory after determiners and pronouns (les amis, vous avez), optional after et and pas, and forbidden before et and words with h aspiré (les héros).

turn-taking formulas

Politely interrupt with je peux te couper or si je peux me permettre; hold the floor with un instant, juste pour finir; hand over with tu disais? These phrases keep an exchange cooperative.

softening disagreement

Disagreement is usually prefaced: je vois ce que tu veux dire, mais…; je ne suis pas tout à fait d'accord; ça se défend, sauf que… Bare contradiction reads as abrupt in French interaction.

oral exam structure

A strong oral response greets, frames the topic, develops two or three points each with an example, and closes by returning to the question. This structure signals planning and keeps timing predictable.

passé simple signal

Passé simple and imperfect subjunctive mark literary or historical prose. Their presence tells a reader the text is a novel, a fable, or a formal history rather than journalism or a blog.

y and en

Y replaces à plus a thing or place (j'y pense); en replaces de plus a noun or a quantity (j'en veux deux). Both are unstressed clitics placed before the verb.

dont and lequel

Dont replaces de plus an antecedent (le livre dont je parle). Lequel, laquelle, lesquels agree with the antecedent and replace à or a preposition plus a thing after a verb.

connector logic

Mais, or, and en revanche signal opposition; car and puisque signal cause; donc and par conséquent signal consequence; bien que plus subjunctive and même si plus indicative signal concession.

French false friends

Actuellement means currently, éventuellement means possibly, assister à means to attend, ignorer means not to know, and une librairie is a bookshop. These shift the meaning of otherwise familiar-looking sentences.

journalistic attaque

French news writing places the central claim in the opening paragraph, called the attaque, then adds context and detail. The final paragraph usually offers reaction or a forward-looking remark, not the thesis.

résumé length rule

A résumé condenses a source to roughly a quarter of its length, keeps its argument order and tense, drops examples, and adds no personal opinion. Opinion turns the task into a commentary.

French number formats

French writes decimals with a comma (2,5 %) and thousands with a space. Soixante et onze is 71, and et appears only in 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71.

hedging in argument

Hedges such as sans doute, il semblerait que, and dans une certaine mesure signal caution or diplomatic distance. Their absence plus strong adjectives signals commitment or indignation.

formal letter closings

A lettre formelle ends with Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées. A lettre amicale ends with Bises, À très vite, or Amitiés.

subjunctive triggers

Il faut que, bien que, pour que, avant que, à condition que, douter que, and vouloir que take the subjunctive. When both clauses share a subject, an infinitive replaces the que-clause.

past participle agreement

With avoir, the participle agrees only with a preceding direct object (les lettres que j'ai écrites). With être it agrees with the subject, and pronominal verbs agree unless a direct object follows.

depuis and pendant

Depuis plus present describes an action still continuing (je travaille ici depuis deux ans). Pendant plus past gives a completed duration, and il y a marks a point in the past.

argumentative paragraph shape

Each paragraph moves from claim to argument to concrete example to a one-line bilan. Paragraphs open with a connector such as de plus, cependant, or ainsi, never with je.

nominalisation for formality

Formal written French replaces conversational verbs with noun phrases: la mise en place de rather than on a mis en place. Passive voice and impersonal il convient de raise register similarly.

tout agreement rule

Adverbial tout is invariable. Before a feminine adjective beginning with a consonant it agrees (toute seule, toutes contentes); before a vowel it usually stays tout (tout entière).

written connectors by function

Addition: de plus, par ailleurs. Illustration: ainsi, notamment. Concession: certes… mais. Conclusion: en somme, en définitive. Choosing by function keeps an argument coherent.

Francophonie scale

French is spoken by over 300 million people across five continents, and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie groups 88 member and observer states. Africa holds the largest share of daily speakers.

laïcité explained

The 1905 law separated Church and State in France. Laïcité now bans conspicuous religious symbols in state schools (2004) and face coverings in public space (2010).

French republican motto

Liberté, égalité, fraternité summarises republican values. The Republic describes itself as indivisible and refuses legal recognition of ethnic or religious communities.

Académie française role

Founded in 1635, the Académie française publishes recommendations on usage and a dictionary but holds no legal authority. The 1994 Toubon law separately requires French in public and commercial communication.

French cultural calendar

La Fête de la Musique falls on 21 June, la Fête nationale on 14 July, and the Cannes Film Festival in May. La bande dessinée is celebrated as the neuvième art.

langues de France

Regional languages recognised as langues de France include breton, occitan, catalan, basque, corse, and the creoles. The 2021 Molac law on immersive teaching was partly struck down as unconstitutional.

cultural comparison hedging

Compare with hedged frames: en France, on a tendance à… alors qu'en Australie… Absolute claims about a whole nation weaken a cultural analysis and invite counterexamples.