French Language
What the paper tests
Where French is offered, the paper tests listening and reading comprehension, basic vocabulary, grammar, and short writing: greetings, introductions, numbers, school and family topics, articles, present-tense verbs, negation, and adjective agreement.
Core rules
- French nouns have gender: le/un for masculine, la/une for feminine.
- Regular -er verbs drop -er and add -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent.
- Negation wraps the verb: ne … pas.
- Adjectives usually agree with the noun in gender and number.
- Use tu with friends and peers; vous for one adult or a group.
Worked example
Complete: Nous ___ (parler) français à l'école. Reasoning: parler is a regular -er verb. The subject nous takes the ending -ons, so the form is parlons: Nous parlons français à l'école. Do not use parle, which belongs to je or il/elle. The ending carries the subject information, so it must match.
Traps
- Using tu with a teacher instead of vous.
- Forgetting adjective agreement: une petite fille, not une petit fille.
- Placing ne without pas, or putting pas before the verb.
- Missing accents that change meaning or pronunciation.