MTTC French (023) cheat sheet

French oral vowels contrast on rounding and nasality: /i y u/, /e ɛ/, /ø œ/, /o ɔ/, plus four nasals /ɛ̃ œ̃ ɔ̃ ɑ̃/; minimal pairs like 'tu/tout', 'dessus/dessous' test perception.

The 'e muet' (schwa) deletes in speech when surrounded by pronounced consonants ('petite fenêtre' → 'ptit' fenêtre), but is retained word-initially in 'le', 'de', 'ce' before a consonant.

Liaison is obligatory after determiners and pronouns ('les_amis', 'vous_avez'), forbidden before 'h aspiré' ('les héros') and after 'et'; optional (register-marked) after 'mais', 'donc', plural nouns.

Enchaînement consonantique links a pronounced final consonant to a following vowel-initial word without a change in pronunciation ('une belle_époque'), distinct from liaison where a silent consonant surfaces.

Nasal vowels denasalize when followed by a nasal consonant in the same syllable: 'bon' [bɔ̃] but 'bonne' [bɔn], 'un' [œ̃] but 'une' [yn].

Intonation marks sentence type: final rising for yes/no questions, final falling for declaratives and wh-questions; 'est-ce que' permits declarative contour in questions.

Register markers in listening: 'on' for 'nous', dropped 'ne' in negation ('je sais pas'), and question-by-intonation signal informal speech; inversion and 'nous' signal formal speech.

The passé composé vs imparfait contrast is audible in auxiliaries and endings; imparfait endings -ais/-ait/-aient are homophones with participles ('parlais/parlé') so context decides.

Cognate traps ('faux amis'): 'actuellement' = currently, 'éventuellement' = possibly, 'assister à' = to attend, 'demander' = to ask, 'librairie' = bookshop, 'blesser' = to injure.

Text-type cues: 'il était une fois' signals narrative/imparfait; 'donc', 'par conséquent', 'en effet' signal argumentative logical links; 'selon', 'd'après' signal reported source.

Pronoun substitution rules: 'le/la/les' replace direct objects and agree; 'lui/leur' replace animate indirect objects; 'y' replaces à + place/thing; 'en' replaces de + noun or a partitive quantity.

Relative pronouns: 'qui' = subject, 'que' = direct object, 'dont' = de + antecedent, 'où' = place or time, 'lequel' with prepositions for inanimate antecedents.

Word formation: prefixes 'dé-', 'in-/im-', 're-' and suffixes '-tion', '-ment', '-able', '-eur' allow inference of unfamiliar academic vocabulary; nominalization often shifts meaning slightly.

Connectors of concession/opposition: 'bien que' + subjunctive, 'quoique' + subjunctive, 'même si' + indicative, 'pourtant' and 'cependant' as adverbs requiring no mood change.

Reading strategy for authentic documents: identify genre markers (small print, headings, dates), then locate the main claim before translating details; 'en revanche' and 'or' mark contrast.

Subjunctive triggers: expressions of will/emotion/doubt/necessity ('il faut que', 'je doute que', 'bien que'), plus conjunctions 'pour que', 'avant que', 'à moins que'; 'après que' and 'parce que' take the indicative.

Passé composé auxiliary: 'être' with pronominal verbs and a closed list (aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, naître, mourir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, retourner, devenir); past participle agrees with subject for être verbs.

With 'avoir', the past participle agrees only with a preceding direct object: 'les lettres que j'ai écrites' vs 'j'ai écrit les lettres'.

Plus-que-parfait = imperfect of avoir/être + past participle, marks an action prior to another past action; 'venir de + infinitive' marks immediate past.

Future and conditional stems derive from the infinitive (or irregular stem: ser-, aur-, ir-, pourr-, voudr-, viendr-); conditional in 'si' clauses expresses hypothesis with imperfect ('si + imparfait → conditionnel').

Article rules: partitive 'du/de la/des' becomes 'de' in negative sentences and after quantity expressions; 'des' becomes 'de' before an adjective preceding a plural noun ('de grands arbres').

Pronoun order before the verb: me/te/se/nous/vous → le/la/les → lui/leur → y → en; in affirmative imperatives pronouns follow with hyphens ('donne-le-moi').

Adjective placement: short frequent adjectives (beau, joli, jeune, vieux, grand, petit, bon, mauvais, nouveau) precede the noun; meaning shifts for 'ancien', 'propre', 'cher', 'grand homme/grand homme'.

France is a secular republic ('laïcité', 1905 law separating church and state); the president is elected for five years by direct universal suffrage, and the Assemblée nationale can be dissolved.

Administrative structure: 18 regions (13 metropolitan, 5 overseas), subdivided into departments (numbered, e.g., 75 Paris) and communes; overseas territories include DROM-COM with distinct legal status.

School system: 'école maternelle' (ages 3-6), 'école élémentaire' (6-11), 'collège' (11-15, ends with 'brevet'), 'lycée' (15-18, ends with 'baccalauréat'); 'laïcité' bans conspicuous religious symbols in public schools.

Francophone institutions: OIF (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie) promotes French and multilingualism; TV5Monde and RFI/Arte are major French-language media.

Key literary periods: 17th-century classicism (Molière, Racine, Corneille), 18th-century Enlightenment (Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot), 19th-century romanticism/realism (Hugo, Flaubert, Zola), 20th-century existentialism (Sartre, Camus).

Francophone regions outside Europe: Quebec (Bill 101, Charter of the French Language), Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire (West African Francophone), Haiti (Creole and French official), Maghreb countries where French is a second language.

French holidays and customs: 'la Fête nationale' on 14 July, 'la Toussaint' on 1 November, 'la Fête de la Musique' on 21 June; 'la galette des rois' at Epiphany and 'la chandeleur' (crêpes) on 2 February.

French cuisine/geography markers: AOC/AOP labels protect regional products (Champagne, Roquefort); 'terroir' denotes place-based food identity; TGV and 'grandes écoles' reflect centralized infrastructure and elite higher education.

Formal letter conventions: sender/recipient blocks, place and date, 'Objet :', salutation 'Madame, Monsieur,' and closing 'Veuillez agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées.'

Written register markers: avoid contractions and 'on' in formal prose; use 'nous', passive voice, nominalizations, and connectors ('néanmoins', 'par ailleurs', 'en outre').

French typography: non-breaking space before ':', ';', '!', '?', and inside guillemets « »; decimal comma ('3,14'); no Oxford comma; 'œ' ligature in 'cœur', 'œuvre'.

Punctuation and quotation: guillemets « » for quotes, tirets (-) for dialogue turns, and italic for foreign words and titles of works; French uses no serial comma.

Translation pitfalls: English progressive maps to 'être en train de' or simple present; English 'to be + adjective' often maps to 'avoir + noun' ('avoir faim', 'avoir froid'); 'depuis' + present for 'for/since'.

Assessment design: ACTFL-style proficiency levels (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior) and CEFR (A1-C2) describe performance; interpretive tasks use authentic texts, interpersonal tasks require negotiation of meaning.

Error correction priorities: meaning-blocking errors (tense, negation, agreement) before stylistic refinement; corrective feedback should be focused and followed by practice, not exhaustive marking.

Task design: IPA (Integrated Performance Assessment) cycles interpretive → interpersonal → presentational modes; rubrics should name criteria (comprehensibility, vocabulary, grammar, cultural appropriateness) with descriptors.

French spelling-sound correspondences: 'ou' = /u/, 'u' = /y/, 'au/eau' = /o/, 'ai' = /ɛ/, 'oi' = /wa/, 'eu' = /ø/ or /œ/, 'ch' = /ʃ/ except in Greek loans ('chœur' /k/).

Silent final consonants: most final consonants are silent ('petit', 'grand'), but 'c', 'r', 'f', 'l' (CaReFuL) are often pronounced; final 'e' is silent and marks a pronounced preceding consonant ('petit' vs 'petite').

Accents change pronunciation and meaning: 'é' = /e/, 'è' = /ɛ/, 'ê' = /ɛ/; 'a' vs 'à', 'ou' vs 'où', 'la' vs 'là' are homophones distinguished by accent and context.

Regional variation: Parisian French drops final 'e' and uses 'on'; Quebec French has affricated /t/ and /d/ before high front vowels and distinct vocabulary ('char' = car); Southern French pronounces final 'e' more often.

Nasal vs oral contrast and the 'e caduc' are the main sources of spelling errors; homophone sets ('ses/ces/c'est/s'est', 'quelque/quel que') require grammatical analysis.

Verlan and 'argot' (e.g., 'meuf', 'keuf') are informal registers; 'français standard' vs 'français familier' vs 'français soutenu' form a register continuum relevant to authentic materials.

Historical layers: Latin roots, Frankish borrowings, and 17th-century spelling reform (Académie française) explain silent letters and double consonants; the 1990 spelling reform regularizes some accents and hyphens ('oignon' → 'ognon').