French (Optional Elective): Grammar, Vocabulary and Communication
The GABECE French elective tests reading comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and short writing. Accuracy in gender, verb endings, accents and agreement matters, because French marks depend on form as well as meaning.
Core rules and concepts
- Nouns have gender: masculine or feminine. Use un or le for masculine, une or la for feminine, and des or les for plural. Learn each noun with its article.
- Contractions: à plus le becomes au; à plus les becomes aux; de plus le becomes du; de plus les becomes des.
- Verbs: learn present tense endings, the passé composé with avoir or être, and the futur proche with aller plus infinitive. Most verbs use avoir in the passé composé; movement verbs such as aller often use être, and the past participle agrees with the subject.
- Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- Negation: place ne before the verb and pas after it: je ne parle pas.
- Vocabulary topics include family, school, daily routine, food, shopping, health and directions. Learn useful connectives such as d'abord, ensuite, mais and parce que.
- Writing: match the task: message, postcard, letter, description or dialogue. Use a greeting, body and closing.
Worked example
Complete: 'Hier, elle ___ (aller) au marché.' The time marker 'hier' shows past tense, so use the passé composé. Aller takes être as its auxiliary. The past participle is allé, and because the subject elle is feminine, add e: elle est allée. The full sentence is 'Hier, elle est allée au marché.' Reasoning: choose the tense from the time word, choose the auxiliary, then make the agreement.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing aller with avoir in the passé composé.
- Forgetting feminine agreement after être.
- Omitting accents that change meaning or spelling.
- Using the wrong article because the noun's gender was not learned.
- Translating English word order directly into French.
- Mixing tu and vous in the same exchange.