Written production - short messages and forms
Domain 5 - Written production: short messages and forms. You will write a postcard, a short email, an invitation or a reply of roughly 40–80 words, and complete a form with personal details. Marks are given for communication (all required points present), correct register, and accuracy - accents included.
The shape of a short message
- Opening: Bonjour, Salut (friend), or Bonjour Madame / Madame, Monsieur when the reader is unknown. Cher Monsieur is for someone you already know.
- Purpose in one sentence: Je t'écris pour… / Je vous écris au sujet de…
- The content points, one sentence each, in the order requested.
- Closing: Cordialement or Bien à vous (formal); À bientôt, Bises, Gros bisous (friends, family).
- Signature: first name for friends; first and last name for formal mail.
Register control
Choose tu or vous at the start and keep it: tu → tu peux, ton, te, à toi; vous → vous pouvez, votre, vous, à vous. Mixing them is the most frequent accuracy error in this paper. Formal requests use the conditional: Je voudrais réserver, Pourriez-vous m'envoyer…
Forms - the fields that appear
Nom de famille (surname) and Prénom (first name) - the reverse of English ordering; né(e) le + date; lieu de naissance; nationalité; adresse; code postal + ville; téléphone; courriel; date et signature. Dates are written le 3 mai 2024, with no ordinal and no comma.
Accents and spelling that change meaning
a (verb) vs à (preposition); ou (or) vs où (where); sur vs sûr; tres is not a word - très. Accents on lower-case letters are expected in an exam even where printed French often drops them.
Worked example
Task: email a hotel to book a double room for two nights, 4–6 June, and ask about parking. Reasoning: unknown reader → Bonjour Madame, Monsieur and vous throughout; conditional je voudrais; dates as du 4 au 6 juin; question with inversion or est-ce que; formal close. Model: Bonjour Madame, Monsieur, Je voudrais réserver une chambre double pour deux nuits, du 4 au 6 juin. Avez-vous un parking ? Merci d'avance. Cordialement, Léa Martin.
Traps that cost marks
Writing 120 words when 60 were asked; omitting one required point, usually the question; je with a third-person verb (je veut); missing accents in a formal message; translating "Dear Sir" as Cher Monsieur to an unknown recipient; writing the surname in the Prénom box.