PAU French II (Cantabria) cheat sheet

Skim the whole text once for global meaning before answering: identify the type of document (article, letter, advertisement, literary excerpt), the author's aim, and the intended reader.

Scan for explicit information questions first (names, dates, figures, places); answers are usually in a single sentence and can be located by keywords from the question.

For inference questions (Que peut-on déduire...?), reject options that are true in general but not supported by the text; the correct answer must follow from stated evidence.

Titles, headings, and the first and last sentences of paragraphs carry the main idea; use them to locate the paragraph that answers each question.

Connectors signal logical relations: mais, cependant, pourtant, en revanche (contrast); donc, par conséquent (consequence); car, parce que, en effet (cause); bien que, quoique + subjunctive (concession).

Watch for negation and restriction: ne...que (only), ne...guère (hardly), ne...ni...ni (neither...nor), and negative prefixes (in-, im-, il-, ir-, dé-, mal-).

Pronouns refer back to earlier nouns: le/la/les/lui/leur, en (de + noun), y (à + place/thing); identify the referent before choosing an answer.

Time markers (d'abord, ensuite, enfin, autrefois, désormais, depuis, il y a) establish chronology; use them for ordering events and identifying the main tense.

Passé composé: avoir/être + past participle; être is used with pronominal verbs and a fixed list (aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, rester, tomber, retourner, devenir, revenir, rentrer); with être the participle agrees with the subject.

Imparfait vs passé composé: imparfait for description, habit, and background; passé composé for completed, bounded actions. Depuis + present = action still continuing; pendant + passé composé = completed duration.

Futur simple formation: infinitive + -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont; irregular stems: être (ser-), avoir (aur-), aller (ir-), faire (fer-), pouvoir (pourr-), savoir (saur-), voir (verr-), venir (viendr-).

Subjunctive triggers: il faut que, bien que, quoique, pour que, avant que, à condition que, je veux que, je doute que; irregular subjunctives: être (sois, sois, soit, soyons, soyez, soient), avoir (aie, aies, ait, ayons, ayez, aient), aller (aille...), faire (fasse...).

Conditional present: infinitive + -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient (same irregular stems as futur simple); used for politeness (je voudrais), hypothesis (si + imparfait, conditionnel), and reported future.

Pronoun order before the verb: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en; in affirmative imperative, pronouns follow the verb with hyphens (Donne-le-moi).

Agreement: adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun; past participle with avoir agrees only with a preceding direct object (les lettres que j'ai écrites); with être it agrees with the subject.

Articles and prepositions: à + le = au, à + les = aux, de + le = du, de + les = des; countries take en/au/aux, cities take à; expressions of place: chez, dans, sur, sous, entre, parmi.

Read the prompt twice and underline the task, the register (tu/vous), the required length, and the specific points to include; missing a required point costs more than a grammar slip.

Structure: short opening (1-2 sentences), developed body (2-3 paragraphs, one idea each), closing (1-2 sentences); use connectors (tout d'abord, ensuite, de plus, en revanche, enfin, en conclusion).

Formal letter/email: Monsieur/Madame, (no name), opening formula (Je vous écris pour...), body, closing (Je vous prie d'agréer, Monsieur/Madame, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées), signature.

Informal message: Salut + prénom, tu forms, closing (À bientôt, Bises, Amitiés); use on rather than nous in relaxed register.

Respect register consistently: vous + subjunctive in formal requests (Je souhaiterais que vous...); avoid slang in formal writing, avoid over-formal formulas in a friendly message.

Show range: vary sentence openings (avoid starting every sentence with Je), use at least one subordinate clause with parce que, bien que, si bien que, or pour que, and one relative clause with qui/que/dont.

Self-check before finishing: verb endings, participle agreement, accents (é/è/ê, à/â, ç before a/o/u), punctuation (French uses a space before : ; ! ?), and word count.

France is a secular republic (laïcité): since the 1905 law, church and state are separated; religious symbols are banned in state schools, and the state does not fund religions.

Administrative geography: France has 18 regions (13 metropolitan + 5 overseas: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, La Réunion, Mayotte); the overseas territories (DOM-TOM) include Polynésie française, Nouvelle-Calédonie, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.

Francophonie: OIF (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie) groups around 88 states and governments; French is an official language in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (Quebec, New Brunswick), Luxembourg, Monaco, and many African countries (Sénégal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroun, Mali, etc.).

Belgium has three official languages (Dutch, French, German); Switzerland has four national languages (German, French, Italian, Romansh); Canada is officially bilingual (English and French).

Forms of address: tu for family, friends, peers, children; vous for strangers, superiors, customers, and to show respect; in Quebec, tu is used more broadly than in France. Bonjour is standard; salut is informal.

Politeness routines: s'il vous plaît (formal) / s'il te plaît (informal); merci, je vous en prie / de rien; pardon/excusez-moi; in shops, Bonjour is expected on entering.

Cultural references often tested: 14 juillet (Fête nationale), la Marseillaise (hymne national), Marianne (symbol of the Republic), le baccalauréat, la rentrée (September), la galette des rois (6 January), la fête de la musique (21 June).

Food and table etiquette: le repas traditionally includes entrée, plat, fromage, dessert; bread is placed on the table, not on the plate; cheese is served before dessert; apéritif (apéro) precedes the meal.