NCEA Level 3 French flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Passé simple recognition

Literary and news past tense replacing passé composé in formal narrative. Endings: -ai, -as, -a, -âmes, -âtes, -èrent for -er verbs; irregular stems include fut, eut, prit, vint.

Plus-que-parfait

Formed with avoir or être in the imperfect plus past participle (avait mangé, était parti). Expresses an action completed before another past action, establishing event order in narratives.

Subjunctive triggers

Constructions requiring the subjunctive: il faut que, bien que, avant que, pour que, je doute que, il est important que. Conjugate the verb in subjunctive form after these conjunctions and expressions.

Liaison rules

A normally silent final consonant is pronounced before a following vowel sound: les_amis, un_grand_homme, vous_avez. Liaison is obligatory in these contexts and optional or forbidden elsewhere.

Silent final consonants

Most French final consonants are not pronounced: petit, grand, beaucoup, temps. Exceptions include caR, fiL, mER, and words where a final consonant resurfaces before a vowel through liaison.

Negation without ne

In informal spoken French, ne is frequently dropped: j'sais pas, y'a pas d'problème, c'est pas vrai. The meaning remains negative, so interpret these as negated statements in listening tasks.

Register markers in speech

Informal spoken French uses tu, contractions (t'as, chuis), and fillers (ben, donc, quoi). Formal French uses vous, full negation with ne, and careful articulation. These signal speaker relationship and context.

False friend: actuellement

Actuellement means currently or at present, not actually. The English actually translates as en fait or en réalité. Misreading this word changes the meaning of a sentence.

False friend: éventuellement

Éventuellement means possibly or if necessary, not eventually. The English eventually translates as finalement or finir par. This is a common comprehension trap in reading and listening.

False friend: réaliser

Réaliser means to achieve or carry out, not to realise in the sense of becoming aware. To realise that something is true, French uses se rendre compte que or comprendre que.

Pronoun en

En replaces a noun introduced by de or a partitive article, and also expresses quantity: J'en ai deux (I have two of them). It must agree in meaning with the antecedent.

Pronoun y

Y replaces a place or a thing introduced by à: Je vais à Paris - J'y vais. It also appears in fixed expressions such as il y a and s'y connaître.

Past participle agreement

With avoir, the past participle agrees with a preceding direct object: les lettres que j'ai écrites. With être verbs and pronominal verbs, it agrees with the subject in gender and number.

Conditional for politeness

The conditional softens requests and expresses hypothesis: pourriez-vous répéter ?, je voudrais ajouter, si j'avais le temps, je le ferais. Use it in formal spoken interaction with the examiner.

Interactive repair phrases

Phrases that keep an exchange going when meaning breaks down: Comment dit-on ... en français ?, Vous voulez dire que ... ?, Si je comprends bien, ... These demonstrate interaction strategy rather than failure.

Structuring an opinion

A complete Level 3 opinion follows opinion + parce que/car + evidence + concession (même si, certes ... mais). This structure supplies both justification and balance in spoken and written tasks.

Formal letter opening

Formal French letters open with Madame, Monsieur or Monsieur le Directeur, followed by the purpose. Informal letters use Cher Paul or Salut. Register must stay consistent through the closing formula.

Formal letter closing

Standard formal closing: Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées. Less formal but still polite: Cordialement, Bien à vous. Match the closing to the opening register.

Connectors of contrast

Cependant, pourtant, en revanche, toutefois and or signal contrast or concession. Recognising them in listening and reading reveals the speaker's or writer's actual position.

Connectors of consequence

Donc, du coup, par conséquent, ainsi and c'est pourquoi introduce results or conclusions. In writing, place one such connector per paragraph rather than clustering several together.

Numbers: quatre-vingts

French counts in twenties from 70: soixante-dix (70), quatre-vingts (80), quatre-vingt-dix (90). Quatre-vingts takes s when final, but quatre-vingt-un drops it. Vingt and cent take s only when multiplied and final.

Mille and million agreement

Mille is invariable as a numeral (deux mille). Million and milliard are nouns and take s in the plural (deux millions). This distinction affects prices and statistics in listening and reading.

Passé composé vs imparfait

Passé composé presents completed, bounded events; imparfait describes background, habitual action or ongoing states. Choosing between them controls narrative foreground and background in writing.

Relative pronouns qui and que

Qui is the subject of the relative clause (l'homme qui parle); que is the direct object (le livre que je lis). Que becomes qu' before a vowel. Using them correctly raises the language band.

Relative pronoun dont

Dont replaces de + noun: le film dont je parle (the film I am talking about). It also appears in expressions such as celui dont, ce dont and avoir besoin de, which require de.

Text type identification

Identify the genre before answering: fait divers (news brief), article de presse, lettre formelle, blog, publicité, discours. Genre predicts structure, register and the type of question asked.

Gist versus detail

Gist questions ask the main idea or speaker purpose; detail questions ask a specific fact, number or name. Decide which type is being asked before reading or listening for the answer.

Circumlocution strategy

When a word is unknown in speaking, describe it instead of stopping: c'est l'endroit où on achète du pain. This maintains fluency and demonstrates communicative resource rather than vocabulary gaps.

Subjunctive of irregular verbs

Key irregular subjunctives: être (sois, soit), avoir (aie, ait), aller (aille), faire (fasse), pouvoir (puisse), savoir (sache), venir (vienne). These appear frequently after il faut que.

Conditional in hypotheses

Si + imperfect, then conditional expresses unreal hypotheses: si j'avais le temps, je voyagerais. Si + present takes future or present in the main clause, never the conditional.

Cognate traps in reading

Words that resemble English but differ: librairie (bookshop, not library), location (rental, not location), journée (day, not journey). Use context and morphology before assuming meaning.

Intonation and attitude

Rising intonation signals a question or surprise; a fall signals assertion or resignation. Combined with phrases like franchement or j'avoue que, intonation reveals the speaker's attitude in listening tasks.