French I
French I tests basic article choice, present-tense conjugation, compound past, adjective agreement, pronoun order, and short text comprehension. The exam favors form–function matching: which article before a noun, which auxiliary in the passé composé, and which pronoun replaces what.
Core patterns
- Articles agree: le/la/les; un/une/des. The partitive du/de la/des marks an unspecified amount; after a negative, du/de la/des usually becomes de/d’.
- Present endings: -er verbs (je parle, nous parlons), regular -ir and -re verbs, plus être, avoir, aller, faire.
- Passé composé = avoir/être + past participle. Most verbs use avoir; a small movement/reflexive set uses être, and the participle agrees with the subject.
- Negation ne...pas surrounds the auxiliary: Je n’ai pas vu le film.
- Adjectives usually follow nouns but a small group (beau, nouveau, grand, petit, jeune, bon, mauvais) precedes; they still agree.
Worked example
“Elle est allée à la bibliothèque.” Aller takes être in the passé composé. The subject elle is feminine, so the participle allée adds -e. With avoir, there would be no subject agreement: Elle a mangé une pomme.
Traps
- Do not write “Elle a allée”; aller uses être.
- The participle agrees with a preceding direct object, not with a following one: les lettres que j’ai écrites.
- Avoid false friends: actuellement = currently, éventuellement = possibly.
- Tu/vous and pronoun order (me/te/nous/vous before le/la/les) are frequent distractors.