French and Arabic Language Expression, Comprehension and Written Communication
This domain tests accuracy in the two official languages of the administration: understanding a text, correcting a sentence and writing a short formal message. The exam rewards grammatical precision and register, not literary flair.
French: register and grammar
- Administrative French favours the impersonal voice, nominalisation and explicit connectors: toutefois, néanmoins, en conséquence, dans la mesure où, afin que.
- Watch the mood after conjunctions: après que takes the indicative in careful usage, avant que and pour que take the subjunctive, bien que always subjunctive.
- Agreement traps: past participle with avoir agrees with a preceding direct object; "ci-joint" is invariable before the noun; "dû" takes a circumflex only in the masculine singular.
- Comprehension: identify the main idea, the author's intention, and what each pronoun refers to before answering detail questions.
Arabic: structure and style
- Control of إعراب: مرفوع، منصوب، مجرور; إنّ وأخواتها govern the accusative, كان وأخواتها the nominative predicate.
- الإضافة forbids the definite article on the first term and tanwīn on the second.
- Numbers 3 to 10 take a plural genitive: ثلاثة موظفين، خمسة ملفات; the dual is used for two.
- Formal connectors: وبالتالي، غير أنّ، من أجل ذلك، وفي هذا الإطار; avoid literal translation of French idioms.
Worked example
Correct: «Après qu'il a signé le procès-verbal, le dossier a été transmis au service compétent.» The indicative is required because the action is completed; «après qu'il ait signé» is the widespread error. Arabic parallel: خمسة موظف is wrong; the correct form is خمسة موظفين, a plural in the genitive after a number from 3 to 10.
Traps that cost marks
Subjunctive after après que; agreement of the past participle with a preceding direct object; French typographic spacing before : and ;; punctuation transposed from Arabic (Arabic comma ،); using a familiar register in a letter to an administration; answering a comprehension question from memory rather than from the text.
Key points
- après que + indicative; avant que, pour que, bien que + subjunctive.
- Past participle with avoir agrees with a preceding direct object only.
- إنّ and كان families change the case of the predicate; الإضافة removes tanwīn.
- Numbers 3–10 take a plural genitive in Arabic.
- Administrative letters require an impersonal register and correct salutations.
- Answer comprehension questions strictly from the text provided.