NB FSL Oral Proficiency cheat sheet

Register markers: informal speech drops 'ne' in negation ('je sais pas'), uses 'on' for 'nous', and contracts 'tu es' to 't'es'; formal speech retains full forms and liaison.

Liaison is obligatory after determiners and pronouns (les_amis, vous_avez), forbidden after 'et' and before 'h aspiré' (les héros), and optional in formal fixed phrases.

Enchaînement links a pronounced final consonant to a following vowel without change of sound (elle_est, avec_elle); it is more frequent than liaison in casual speech.

Silent-final-consonant traps: 'ils parlent' sounds like 'il parle'; 'petit' loses its /t/ before a consonant but keeps it before a vowel (petit_ami).

Numbers: 'soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix' versus Belgian/Swiss 'septante, huitante, nonante'; phone numbers are read in pairs.

Homophone pairs resolved by context: 'mer/mère/maire', 'vert/verre/vers', 'saint/sain/sein/ceint'; listen for collocates rather than the isolated syllable.

Fast-speech reductions: 'je suis' → /ʃɥi/, 'il y a' → /ja/, 'qu'est-ce que' → /kɛsk/, 'tu as' → /ta/; expect these in informal registers.

Negation and question cues carry meaning at the end of clauses: 'personne', 'rien', 'jamais', 'plus' after the verb, and 'si' as an affirmative reply to a negative question.

Target rate for B2-C1 oral production is roughly 100-130 words per minute; pauses should fall at clause boundaries rather than mid-phrase.

Filled pauses ('euh', 'ben') are tolerated up to about one per 15-20 words; beyond that they read as breakdown rather than planning.

Self-repair counts as fluency only when it is quick and forward-moving; repeated restarts on the same word signal loss of control.

Rhythm groups in French are stress-final: accent falls on the last syllable of each group, so lengthening a non-final syllable disrupts flow.

Chunking strategy: memorize fixed frames ('ce qui m'intéresse, c'est…', 'il faut reconnaître que…') to buy planning time without stalling.

Shadowing and 4/3/2 repetition (same content in decreasing time) are the standard drills for raising speech rate without added errors.

Turn-taking signals ('alors', 'donc', 'en fait', 'écoutez') mark boundaries and let the speaker hold the floor while planning the next clause.

Reading aloud fluency is measured separately from spontaneous fluency; examiners score reformulation and pausing in unscripted tasks.

Range is scored on breadth across topics plus precision of word choice; a rare word used wrongly lowers accuracy more than it raises range.

False friends to flag: 'actuellement' = currently (not actually), 'éventuellement' = possibly, 'assister à' = to attend, 'sensible' = sensitive.

Collocation pairs are fixed: 'prendre une décision', 'faire des recherches', 'poser une question', 'tirer une conclusion'.

Register pairs: 'boulot/travail', 'bouffer/manger', 'flic/policier'; informal terms are acceptable in casual tasks but not in formal exposés.

Nominalization raises register: 'nous avons décidé' → 'notre décision de…'; verbal style suits narration, nominal style suits argument.

Connector inventory by function: cause (parce que, puisque, étant donné que), consequence (donc, par conséquent), concession (bien que + subj., certes… mais).

Paraphrase is a scoring asset: when a word is missing, a definition or hypernym ('un engin pour…', 'une sorte de…') preserves range credit.

Idioms require fixed form: 'avoir le coup de foudre', 'tomber dans les pommes', 'mettre les points sur les i'; partial renderings count as errors.

Subjunctive triggers: 'il faut que', 'bien que', 'avant que', 'pour que', 'à condition que'; 'après que' takes the indicative in careful usage.

Past participle agreement: with 'être' verbs agrees with the subject; with 'avoir' agrees with a preceding direct object only ('les lettres que j'ai écrites').

'Depuis' + present for ongoing action ('je travaille ici depuis 2019'); 'il y a' + past for a completed point ('je suis arrivé il y a deux ans').

Future in the past ('conditionnel') reports future from a past viewpoint: 'il a dit qu'il viendrait'; sequence of tenses is scored in reported speech.

Article rules: abstract nouns take 'le/la' in general statements ('la liberté'), but drop it after 'en' and in predicate positions with professions ('elle est médecin').

Pronoun order before the verb: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en; combinations are limited ('lui en', 'y en').

'Si' clauses: 'si + présent' → present, future, or imperative; 'si + imparfait' → conditional; never 'si + conditionnel'.

Relative pronouns: 'qui' subject, 'que' object, 'dont' for 'de +', 'où' for place/time, 'lequel' after prepositions for things.

French /ʁ/ is uvular, not rolled; it is devoiced after voiceless consonants ('très', 'prix') and vocalic elsewhere.

Nasal vowels are four: /ɛ̃/ (vin), /ɑ̃/ (vent), /ɔ̃/ (bon), /œ̃/ (brun, merging with /ɛ̃/ in many varieties).

/y/ versus /u/: 'tu' has spread lips and a high front tongue; 'tout' has rounded lips and a back tongue; the contrast is high functional load.

Final consonants are generally silent except in 'c, r, f, l' (the 'CaReFuL' set) and in learned borrowings ('album', 'direct').

Open versus closed /e/: closed /e/ in 'parler, été, et'; open /ɛ/ in 'père, fête, mais'; spelling cues include final -er (closed) versus -et/-ai (open).

Schwa deletion is normal: 'je ne sais pas' → /ʒn sɛ pa/; deleting too many schwas harms intelligibility in formal registers.

Intonation contours: statement falls at the end, yes/no question rises, wh-question falls; misplaced rise can be heard as uncertainty.

Aspirated 'h' blocks liaison and elision ('le héros', 'en haut'); mute 'h' allows them ('l'homme', 'les hommes').

Answer structure for opinion tasks: position → two supports with examples → concession ('certes… mais') → restated position; this maps to coherence descriptors.

Cohesive devices by function: addition (de plus), contrast (en revanche), exemplification (par exemple, ainsi), summary (en somme, bref).

Repair phrases: 'comment dire…', 'je veux dire…', 'ce que je veux dire, c'est que…' - they preserve the floor and are credited as strategic competence.

Negotiating meaning: request clarification ('vous voulez dire que…?'), check comprehension ('si j'ai bien compris…'), and confirm ('c'est bien ça?').

Disagreement is softened in French norms: 'je vois ce que vous voulez dire, mais…', 'peut-être, encore que…' rather than a flat 'non'.

Topic development: extend with cause, consequence, and personal example; a bare yes/no answer without extension is scored as limited discourse.

Managing the exchange: initiate ('j'aimerais revenir sur…'), hold ('laissez-moi finir'), and yield ('qu'en pensez-vous?') are explicit interaction moves.

Formal versus informal address: 'vous' with strangers and superiors, 'tu' with peers; switching mid-exchange without invitation is a pragmatic error.