Reading comprehension (compréhension écrite)
Reading comprehension (compréhension écrite) is the domain in which PSEB Matric French presents short texts - a postcard, a notice, a dialogue, or a short description of a family or school day - and asks questions in French. It tests whether you can locate stated information, interpret question words, and answer in the required form, not whether you can translate every word.
Core rules
- Read the questions before the text so you know which details to hunt for: names, numbers, dates, places, and activities.
- Learn the question words: qui (who), que/qu'est-ce que (what), où (where), quand (when), comment (how), pourquoi (why), combien (how many/how much).
- Scan for the key word in the question and read the sentence around it; the answer is usually in the same sentence or the next one.
- Watch polarity and contrast: ne...pas, ne...que (only), mais, cependant, and aussi can reverse or limit the meaning.
- In vrai/faux items, a statement is true only if the whole statement matches the text. Half-true means faux.
- Answer in the demanded form: a full sentence when the instruction says Répondez par une phrase, and the same person and tense as the text.
Worked example
Text: « Le samedi, Amélie va au marché avec sa mère. Elles achètent des fruits et du fromage. Ensuite, Amélie retrouve ses amies au parc, mais elle rentre à six heures parce qu'elle doit faire ses devoirs. »
Question: Pourquoi Amélie rentre-t-elle à six heures ?
Answer: Parce qu'elle doit faire ses devoirs.
Reasoning: pourquoi signals a cause, so look for parce que or car. The clause après parce qu'elle doit faire ses devoirs gives the reason. The word mais marks a contrast with the park outing and is not the cause.
Traps that cost marks
- Translating word by word and missing the function of a short word such as y, en, or que.
- Confusing near neighbours in the text, for example samedi and dimanche, or six heures and seize heures.
- Copying a whole sentence when the question asks for one piece of information.
- Answering vrai because the statement is generally true in real life, even though the text does not say it.