MATSEC IM French common mistakes
MATSEC IM French · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writing the guided composition in the wrong register - using 'tu', contractions like 'y a' for 'il y a', slang ('bosser', 'truc'), and 'on' as a generic subject throughout a formal letter or article.
Candidates rehearse spoken French in class and transfer it into writing; the task prompt's audience and text type (letter to a newspaper, article for a school magazine) are skimmed rather than analysed for formality cues.
What to do instead
Before writing, underline the audience and text type in the prompt and decide the register explicitly. Use 'vous' for the reader, full negation 'ne…pas', and connectives such as 'par conséquent', 'toutefois', 'en effet'. Reserve 'tu', 'on', and slang for the informal message task, and re-read the piece once only to hunt for register slips.
Mixing up the passé composé auxiliary and agreement: 'j'ai allé', 'elle est parti', 'nous avons arrivés', and applying agreement to avoir-verbs with a preceding direct object only by accident.
In Maltese and English the perfect is built with a single auxiliary (kien/ha/ġie + participle; 'have' + participle), so the choice between 'être' and 'avoir' and participle agreement feel arbitrary rather than rule-governed.
What to do instead
Memorise the 'être' verb family (DR MRS VANDERTRAMP plus pronominals) and drill it as a fixed list. Then practise agreement in three slots only: être-verbs agree with the subject; avoir-verbs agree only when a direct object precedes the verb ('les lettres que j'ai écrites'); pronominal verbs agree unless followed by a direct object. Write ten sentences per slot and check against a model.
Confusing 'depuis', 'pendant', 'pour', 'il y a', and 'dans' when placing an action in time, producing 'Je suis ici depuis trois heures' versus 'J'ai travaillé depuis trois heures' and 'Je pars pour deux semaines'.
These prepositions map onto a single Maltese or English equivalent in the learner's mind, and the present-tense-with-'depuis' pattern clashes with the intuition that an ongoing action needs a perfect tense.
What to do instead
Learn four anchor patterns as chunks: 'depuis + present' for ongoing ('Je travaille ici depuis 2019'); 'pendant + passé composé' for a completed span ('J'ai travaillé pendant deux ans'); 'il y a + past' for a point in the past ('Il est parti il y a deux ans'); 'dans + future' for a point ahead ('Je reviens dans deux jours'). Insert them into your own sentences about your life and check the tense matches the preposition, not the other way round.
Reading-comprehension answers lifted verbatim from the text that answer only part of the question, or that repeat the passage's wording while missing the inference the question actually asks for.
Under time pressure candidates match surface words between question and text and copy the first sentence containing them, without checking whether the question asks 'pourquoi', 'quel est l'effet', or 'qu'est-ce que cela révèle'.
What to do instead
Read the question first and identify the question word and the type of answer required. Then locate the relevant lines, and write the answer in your own words in one sentence that contains the key idea plus its cause or consequence. If your answer could be pasted into the passage without anyone noticing, it is probably too close to the text.
In the listening paper, answering from general knowledge or from the first few words rather than waiting for the speaker's conclusion, and missing numbers, negation, or contrast markers ('mais', 'sauf que', 'en fait') that reverse the apparent meaning.
Candidates panic when they miss a word and stop listening, or they hear a familiar keyword and commit to an answer before the speaker qualifies it; numbers and negations are acoustically weak in fast speech.
What to do instead
Train with short authentic clips and answer only after the second listening. Note symbols for numbers, and circle contrast markers when you hear them, since the answer often sits after the contrast. Practise minimal pairs such as 'il a' / 'il n'a pas', 'quatre-vingt' / 'quatre-vingts', and 'soixante-dix' / 'soixante', and always predict the likely answer type (number, reason, opinion) before the audio starts.
Treating the gap-fill or transformation exercise as free composition - writing a plausible sentence that ignores the word given, the tense required, or the number of words allowed ('Complétez avec le verbe entre parenthèses au temps qui convient' answered in the present because it sounds right).
Candidates read the sentence, not the rubric, and are unsure which tense is triggered by time markers such as 'si', 'quand', 'dès que', or 'il faut que'.
What to do instead
Underline the instruction verb and any constraint (tense, person, word limit) before reading the sentence. Build a trigger list: 'si + imparfait → conditionnel'; 'quand/dès que + futur' for future events; 'il faut que/bien que + subjonctif'; 'après avoir/être + participe passé'. After answering, re-read the whole sentence to check it is grammatical and that the transformation preserved the original meaning.
In translation into French, producing word-for-word renderings of idioms and fixed phrases - 'Je suis d'accord avec vous' handled well but 'prendre une décision', 'il s'agit de', 'avoir besoin de', and 'faire attention' broken down or replaced with literal calques.
Candidates translate meaning unit by unit from the source language and have not stored multi-word chunks as single items, so they rebuild them from components.
What to do instead
Keep a chunk bank organised by function (giving opinions, making suggestions, expressing cause and consequence) and learn each phrase as an indivisible unit with one example. In the exam, translate clause by clause rather than word by word, then check the French sentence for the structures that differ from English and Maltese: reflexive verbs, 'de' after quantities, and the position of adverbs.
Skipping or rushing the oral: reading a prepared script aloud, giving one-clause answers to the examiner's questions, and freezing when asked to justify an opinion or describe a picture.
The oral is practised least, and candidates prepare written answers by heart rather than rehearsing spontaneous response strategies; the stress of the live exchange pushes them back to memorised sentences that do not fit the question.
What to do instead
Rehearse aloud with a timer in three modes: a one-minute monologue on a familiar topic, a picture description using a fixed frame (au premier plan / à l'arrière-plan / il semble que), and a question-and-answer drill where you must answer in at least two sentences with a reason. Learn five repair phrases ('Pouvez-vous répéter, s'il vous plaît ?', 'Je veux dire que…', 'En fait…') so a stumble does not end the answer.
Pronunciation habits that make speech hard to follow: silent final consonants dropped where they should be sounded in liaison contexts, all syllables given equal weight instead of final-syllable stress, and 'u' pronounced as 'ou' ('tu' as 'tou', 'rue' as 'roue').
Maltese and English stress and vowel systems do not include the French front rounded vowel or the same rhythmic pattern, and written French hides liaison, so learners read letters rather than sounds.
What to do instead
Drill the 'u' vowel with minimal pairs ('tu/tout', 'rue/roue', 'dessus/dessous') and feel the lip rounding. Practise rhythm by tapping the final syllable of each group ('je voudRAIS', 'une belle jourNÉE') and mark obligatory liaisons on a short text ('les_amis', 'vous_avez', 'un grand_homme') before reading it aloud. Record yourself and compare with a model recording of the same lines.
Losing marks on the short writing tasks through structural neglect: no greeting or sign-off in a letter, no paragraphing, no linking words, and the same simple sentence pattern repeated throughout.
Candidates spend all their time on vocabulary and grammar and treat layout and cohesion as automatic, but the mark scheme rewards text-type conventions, range of structures, and logical organisation explicitly.
What to do instead
Learn a skeleton for each text type - letter: 'Madame, Monsieur,' … formulaic close 'Je vous prie d'agréer…'; informal message: 'Salut …' / 'À bientôt'; article: title, introduction, two developed paragraphs, conclusion. Build a personal list of eight connectives and force at least one into each paragraph. Leave two minutes to check the skeleton is complete and that you have used at least two complex structures (a relative clause with 'qui/que', a subordinate clause with 'parce que', 'bien que', or 'si').