CLEP French Language cheat sheet
CLEP French Language · Keep the key ideas within reach.
Listening: Rejoinders
Agreement: an affirmative statement takes "moi aussi"; a negative statement takes "moi non plus".
Disagreement with a negative statement takes "moi si" ("Je ne suis pas fatigué." - "Moi si.").
"Merci" is answered by "Je vous en prie" (formal), "Je t'en prie", "De rien", "Avec plaisir", or "Pas de souci".
An apology is answered by "Ce n'est pas grave", "Il n'y a pas de mal", or "Vous ne me dérangez pas du tout".
A declined invitation requires a softener: "C'est gentil, mais...", "Je regrette, mais...", "Malheureusement, je ne peux pas"; a bare "Non" is not the expected rejoinder.
The rejoinder must match the register of the prompt: a "tu" question is answered with "tu" forms, a "vous" question with "vous" forms.
"Tant mieux" marks satisfaction at good news; "tant pis" marks resignation about something unchangeable. The two are never interchangeable.
Advice is given with "Tu devrais + infinitif", "Si j'étais toi, je + conditionnel", or "Il vaut mieux + infinitif".
Opinion rejoinders: "Tu as raison", "Je suis tout à fait d'accord", "Pas du tout", "Je ne pense pas", "Ça dépend".
Listening: Dialogues and Narratives
The imparfait carries background, description, and habitual action; the passé composé carries single completed events that advance the story.
Sequencers to track in a spoken narrative: d'abord, puis, ensuite, alors, soudain, tout à coup, enfin, finalement.
Numeral traps: 70 = soixante-dix, 71 = soixante et onze, 80 = quatre-vingts, 81 = quatre-vingt-un (no "et"), 90 = quatre-vingt-dix, 1000 = mille (invariable).
Negation values: ne...que = only; ne...rien = nothing; ne...personne = nobody; ne...plus = no longer; ne...jamais = never.
Periphrases: venir de + infinitif = to have just done; être en train de + infinitif = to be in the middle of; aller + infinitif = to be going to.
Conditional patterns: si + présent → futur or présent; si + imparfait → conditionnel présent.
Subjunctive triggers heard in dialogue: il faut que, bien que, pour que, avant que, vouloir que, douter que.
Spoken questions often replace inversion with intonation or "est-ce que": "C'est quand ?", "Tu viens d'où ?", "Ça fait combien ?".
Reading Part A. Discrete sentences (vocabulary and structure)
Depuis + présent for an action still going on; pendant + passé composé for a closed duration; il y a = ago; dans = in (future).
"y" replaces à + thing or place; "en" replaces de + noun and also stands for a quantity ("J'en ai deux").
Object pronoun order: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en.
meilleur is the comparative of the adjective bon; mieux is the comparative of the adverb bien.
Subjunctive after il faut que, bien que, pour que, avant que, quoique; indicative after parce que, puisque, pendant que, dès que.
Relative pronouns: qui = subject, que = direct object, dont = de + noun, où = place or time.
Place prepositions: en + feminine country, au + masculine country, aux + plural country, à + city.
jouer à takes sports and games (jouer au tennis); jouer de takes instruments (jouer du piano).
False friends: actuellement = currently; éventuellement = possibly; assister à = to attend; demander = to ask; sensible = sensitive.
Reading Part B. Short cloze passages (vocabulary and structure)
In a cloze narrative, select the imparfait for description and background and the passé composé for the chain of events; the passé simple appears in literary registers.
Past participle with avoir agrees only with a preceding direct object ("les lettres que j'ai écrites"); with être it agrees with the subject.
Partitive and indefinite articles become de after a negation ("Je n'ai pas de pain") and after quantity words (beaucoup de, assez de, trop de).
pour que, afin que, avant que, bien que, jusqu'à ce que, à condition que take the subjunctive; parce que, puisque, pendant que, dès que take the indicative.
si + présent → futur or présent; si + imparfait → conditionnel présent; si + plus-que-parfait → conditionnel passé.
"on" is a third-person singular subject meaning we, one, or people, so the verb never takes a plural ending.
très modifies adjectives and adverbs; beaucoup modifies verbs and is followed by de + noun.
Verbs of motion and state (aller, venir, arriver, partir, rester, naître, mourir, monter, descendre, sortir, entrer, tomber, rentrer, retourner, devenir) and all reflexive verbs take être as auxiliary.
Verb + preposition pairs: penser à, s'intéresser à, dépendre de, essayer de, réussir à, éviter de.
Reading Part C. Reading passages and authentic stimulus materials (reading comprehension)
Contrast connectors: mais, cependant, pourtant, toutefois, en revanche, alors que. Consequence connectors: donc, ainsi, par conséquent, c'est pourquoi. Cause connectors: car, parce que, puisque, en effet.
Fixed expressions: il s'agit de = it is about; il faut = it is necessary; il vaut mieux = it is better.
Passé simple forms to recognize: il fut, il eut, il fit, il vint, il prit, il dit, il vit, il mourut.
Authentic notices: à partir de = from (price or date); dès = as of; sauf = except; du lundi au vendredi = Monday through Friday; fermé le mardi = closed Tuesdays.
The correct answer is stated or directly implied in the text; outside knowledge is never a valid basis for the choice.
Stems containing ne...que or sauf narrow the answer to an exclusion, so the right choice is what the text rules out, not what it highlights.
Evaluative language signals tone: heureusement, malheureusement, il est regrettable que + subjunctive, prétendre (= to claim, not to pretend).
Identify the document type first - personal letter (salutation and closing), job ad, museum notice, press article, literary excerpt - because each type carries its own expected content.