Galicia PAU French - Second Foreign Language / Francés II Lengua Extranjera key terms

Ability to read a French text and extract its main idea, specific details, the author's intention and the meaning of unfamiliar words from context, as tested by multiple-choice or short-answer questions.

The central point a paragraph or whole text is built around, usually stated in a topic sentence or inferable from repeated vocabulary; questions often ask you to choose it among plausible distractors.

A supporting point that illustrates, qualifies or exemplifies the main idea; it can be true in the text yet still be the wrong answer when the question asks for the main idea.

Reading between the lines to derive a conclusion the text implies but does not state directly, for example a character's feelings or the reason behind a decision.

Content that the writer suggests without stating openly, through tone, word choice or irony; recognising it separates a literal reading from a real understanding of the text.

The attitude a text conveys towards its subject, such as humour, irony, indignation or nostalgia; identifying it helps answer questions about the author's purpose and the effect on the reader.

The purpose the writer pursues: informing, persuading, denouncing, entertaining or paying tribute. Questions about it usually ask why the text was written rather than what it says.

A word or phrase such as cependant, donc, en revanche or par conséquent that signals contrast, cause, consequence or addition, and therefore guides the logical structure of a text.

The set of words linked by a common theme in a text, for example vocabulary of travel or of work; spotting it helps locate the topic and answer vocabulary-in-context questions.

A word with a meaning close to another in a given context; exam tasks frequently ask you to find in the text a word or expression meaning the same as a given item.

A word expressing the opposite of another, such as rare and fréquent; recognising opposites helps in matching exercises and in understanding contrastive passages.

Rewording a sentence or idea with different vocabulary while keeping the meaning; it is the core skill behind reformulation tasks and summary questions.

A transformation exercise in which you rewrite a sentence so that it means the same thing, often changing voice, tense or word class while respecting a given starting word.

The construction formed with être plus past participle, used when the object of the action becomes the subject, as in Le roman a été écrit en 1950; a frequent target of transformation tasks.

The standard construction in which the subject performs the action, as in L'auteur a écrit le roman; converting between it and the passive is a classic exam transformation.

The phrase introduced by par or de in a passive sentence that names who or what performs the action, as in apprécié de tous; it disappears when the agent is unknown.

Reported speech, in which a quotation is integrated into a sentence with a reporting verb and the tenses and pronouns shift, as in Il a dit qu'il viendrait le lendemain.

Quoted speech introduced by a reporting verb and marked by quotation marks or a dash, keeping the original tense and pronouns; transforming it into indirect speech is a standard task.

The rules governing tense choice in subordinate clauses, especially the shift to past tenses after a past reporting verb, for example present becomes imparfait in indirect speech.

A verb mood expressing wish, doubt, necessity or emotion, required after expressions such as il faut que, bien que or je doute que; its present forms must be recognised and produced.

A mood used for hypotheses, polite requests and reported future, as in je voudrais or il a promis qu'il viendrait; distinguishing it from the future tense is a common exam trap.

A conditional structure expressing a possible or unreal situation, built as si plus present with future, or si plus imparfait with conditionnel, as in Si j'avais le temps, je lirais.

The conjunction si introducing a condition; unlike English, French never uses the future or conditional directly after it, so si j'aurai is always wrong.

The rule by which a past participle agrees with a preceding direct object or with the subject of être verbs, as in les lettres que j'ai écrites; errors here are heavily penalised.

The compound past formed with avoir or être in the present plus past participle, used for completed actions; choosing the correct auxiliary and applying agreement are essential.

The helping verb avoir or être used to build compound tenses; a small set of movement and pronominal verbs takes être, and their participles agree with the subject.

Words such as qui, que, dont and où that link a relative clause to its antecedent; choosing the right one depends on the grammatical function of the replaced element.

A clause dependent on a main clause, introduced by a conjunction, a relative pronoun or a preposition plus infinitive; combining two sentences into one with a subordinate clause is a typical task.

Turning a verb or adjective into a noun, as in arriver into l'arrivée, a common reformulation technique that also makes written French more formal.

The level of formality of language, from familier through courant to soutenu; a written production must stay consistent and avoid slang unless quoting dialogue.

A formal letter following French conventions: place and date, a salutation such as Madame, Monsieur, a body organised in paragraphs, a closing formula and a signature.

The conventional closing phrase of a letter, ranging from Cordialement in semi-formal writing to Je vous prie d'agréer mes salutations distinguées in official correspondence.

A piece of writing that defends an opinion with organised arguments and examples, usually structured as introduction, developed paragraphs and conclusion, often required in the composition task.

The position a writer defends in an argumentative text, stated clearly in the introduction and supported throughout; it must not be confused with the arguments that justify it.

A reason offered to support a thesis, ideally developed in a paragraph and illustrated by a concrete example rather than merely asserted.

The community of countries and regions where French is spoken, including France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, several African states and overseas territories; a recurring cultural reference in texts.

The Canadian province where French is the official language, home to a distinct literature and to the Office québécois de la langue française; its vocabulary differs from European French.

A form of French specific to a region, differing in accent, vocabulary or idiom, as between Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec and Africa, without being incorrect.

The French-speaking countries of sub-Saharan and North Africa, such as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali and Morocco, which supply many contemporary texts on identity, migration and language.