BGCSE French 0520 flashcards

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

Passé composé vs imparfait

Use passé composé for completed events that move the story forward and imparfait for background, description, weather and repeated habits. Mixing them wrongly lowers the accuracy band in writing.

Negation ne...que

Means 'only' and restricts the quantity, unlike 'ne...pas'. In listening items it reverses the expected answer, e.g. 'il n'y a que deux places' means exactly two seats.

False friend actuellement

Translates as 'currently' or 'at present', not 'actually'. The English 'actually' is 'en fait' or 'en réalité'. It appears often in reading distractors.

Liaison with vowel onset

A normally silent final consonant is pronounced before a word beginning with a vowel or mute h, as in 'les_amis' and 'vous_avez'. Accurate liaison supports the pronunciation mark in the oral.

Answer order in listening

Listening questions follow the order of the recording, so each answer is found after the previous one. A missed item is left behind because returning loses the next answer.

Content points in writing

Each task lists required ideas, such as where, when, with whom and why. Every point must be stated explicitly; an omitted point loses content marks even if the French is correct.

Pronoun y

Replaces a place or a phrase with 'à' plus a noun, as in 'Je vais à Paris' becoming 'J'y vais'. It never replaces a person, which requires 'à lui' or 'à elle'.

Role-play card structure

Each card gives a situation plus bullet prompts the candidate must perform with the examiner. All bullets must be covered, and adding a reason or question improves the communication mark.

Distractor then correction

Recordings often state a wrong value first and correct it later, e.g. a price revised or a platform changed. The last stated value is the answer.

Formal letter openings

A formal French letter opens with 'Madame, Monsieur,' and closes with 'Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, mes salutations distinguées.' Informal messages instead use 'Salut' and 'À bientôt'.

Nasal vowels on and an

'on' and 'an' are nasal vowels produced with air through the nose and no final consonant sound. Confusing them with oral vowels reduces the pronunciation score in the oral.

u versus ou contrast

French 'u' is pronounced with rounded lips and a forward tongue, while 'ou' is a back rounded vowel. The pair distinguishes words such as 'tu' and 'tout'.

Justification in true/false

True/false reading items often require a short quotation from the passage as proof. A correct judgement without a supporting phrase earns only partial credit.

Sequencing markers

Words such as d'abord, puis, ensuite, enfin and avant de signal order in a text. They map directly onto ordering questions in reading and on narrative structure in writing.

Agreement of past participle

With 'être' verbs the participle agrees with the subject; with 'avoir' it agrees only with a preceding direct object, as in 'les fleurs que j'ai cueillies'.

Register tu and vous

'Tu' addresses friends, family and peers; 'vous' addresses adults, strangers and formal situations. The choice signals the relationship in listening and must match the task in writing.

Describing a photo

Use present tense with 'il y a' plus position phrases: au premier plan, à l'arrière-plan, à gauche, à droite, derrière, devant. Add what people are doing for range.

False friend éventuellement

Means 'possibly' or 'if necessary', not 'eventually'. The English 'eventually' is 'finalement' or 'finir par'. It is a common reading distractor.

Paraphrase recovery strategy

When a word is unknown in the oral, describe it instead of switching to English, e.g. 'c'est une chose qu'on utilise pour couper'. This preserves the communication mark.

Accents that change meaning

Accents distinguish words: a/à, ou/où, ete/été, sur/sûr, des/dès. Missing accents count as spelling errors and can alter the intended meaning in written production.

Restrictive cues sauf and ne...plus

'Sauf' means except and 'ne...plus' means no longer. Both exclude an option that the passage otherwise mentions, so they reverse the expected answer in listening and reading.

Pronoun en

Replaces a quantity or a phrase with 'de', as in 'Tu veux du café ? Oui, j'en veux'. It also replaces numbers, e.g. 'J'en ai trois'.

Connectors for range

Linkers such as cependant, par contre, de plus, donc, pourtant and enfin raise the range mark in writing. They must join complete clauses, not be inserted randomly.

Question formation options

French allows three question forms: rising intonation, 'est-ce que', and inversion. All are correct, but inversion and 'est-ce que' show greater range in the oral.

Tone interjections

Interjections such as 'Ah bon ?', 'Zut !', 'Tant mieux' and 'Hélas' carry attitude. Tone questions are answered from these cues and the speaker's intonation, not from content words.

Inference from cause

Inference items are answered from a stated cause, consequence or contrast in the passage. Outside knowledge or personal opinion is never the basis for the answer.

Announcement pattern

Station and public announcements follow a fixed order: event or destination, time, platform or place, then a change or warning. This predicts where each detail will be heard.

Word limit discipline

Writing tasks set a word count and penalise both under-length and excessive length. A one-line plan per content point keeps the text complete and within the limit.

Silent final consonants

Most final consonants are silent in French, as in 'petit', 'grand' and 'vous'. Pronouncing them as English does is a frequent accuracy error in the oral.

Pronoun relative dont

Replaces a phrase with 'de', as in 'le livre dont je parle'. It is resolved in reading by finding the preceding noun that the following verb governs with 'de'.

Error density and banding

Accuracy marks are banded by how often basic errors occur. Frequent mistakes in agreement or verb endings cap the band, so checking those two areas protects the score.

Extending spoken answers

One-word replies score minimally on communication. Add a reason, example or follow-up question using 'parce que', 'par exemple' or 'et toi ?' to reach the higher band.