Praxis French: World Language key terms

The pronunciation of a normally silent final consonant when the next word begins with a vowel or a mute h, as in les amis, where the s sounds as z.

Dropping a final vowel and replacing it with an apostrophe before a word beginning with a vowel or mute h, as when le becomes l' in l'école.

Linking a pronounced final consonant to the vowel starting the next word inside the same rhythmic group, so syllables run together across word boundaries.

The speed at which a speaker delivers speech; a fast débit in news broadcasts or spontaneous conversation makes listening noticeably harder for learners of French.

Pronunciation and intonation features tied to a particular French-speaking region, such as the southern accent with its open vowels and pronounced final -e.

A form of French slang made by reversing the syllables of a word, so that femme becomes meuf and arabe becomes beur.

The level of formality a speaker or writer adopts, commonly classed as soutenu, courant and familier, which governs vocabulary choice, grammar and pronunciation.

The worldwide community of people and countries that use French, including former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, together with the institutions promoting the language.

France's overseas departments, regions and collectivities located outside mainland Europe, such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and French Guiana.

The French principle that the state stays neutral toward religion and keeps religious expression out of public institutions, notably public schools, where conspicuous religious signs are banned.

The main television news broadcast in France, usually a structured program with headlines, filmed reports, studio interviews and a weather segment, used as authentic listening material.

A structured discussion in which participants argue opposing positions, common on French radio and television, marked by turn-taking, disagreement formulas and frequent interruption.

A group of words related to one topic or idea within a text, such as terms for the sea, which helps a reader infer meaning and identify the text's theme.

A word that resembles an English word but carries a different meaning, such as actuellement, which means currently rather than actually, and is a frequent reading trap.

The literary past tense used mainly in written narrative, especially fiction and history, to report completed events; it is rarely heard in everyday speech.

The contrast between the imperfect, which supplies background, habits and ongoing states, and the compound past, which reports completed events that move a narrative forward.

A verb mood used after expressions of will, emotion, doubt and necessity, usually introduced by que, as in il faut que tu viennes.

The rule that a past participle agrees in gender and number with a direct object placed before it, or with the subject when the auxiliary verb is être.

Reported speech, in which someone's words are restated with shifted pronouns and tenses, usually introduced by verbs such as dire, demander or expliquer.

France's administrative divisions, where regions group departments and departments are further divided into communes; these terms recur constantly in news and civic texts.

The body founded in 1635 that guards the French language and publishes its official dictionary, although its rulings on usage are advisory rather than legally binding.

The French-language comic-strip tradition, treated as a serious art form, with terms such as bulle, planche and case that may appear in cultural reading passages.

A word or phrase such as cependant, donc or en revanche that signals the logical link between ideas in writing: contrast, cause, consequence or addition.

A three-part essay structure moving from a thesis through a counter-argument to a synthesis, standard in French argumentative writing and in the dissertation.

A writing task that condenses several source texts into one coherent, neutral summary organized by theme rather than document by document.

A formal letter following French conventions: sender and recipient blocks, an object line, a formal salutation, a body in paragraphs and a closing formula of politeness.

The fixed closing expression of a French letter, whose wording must match the recipient's rank and the degree of formality, such as Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, mes salutations distinguées.

A non-breaking space that French typography requires before a colon, semicolon, question mark or exclamation mark, and inside guillemets, to keep punctuation on the same line.

A communicative function performed by an utterance, such as greeting, requesting, apologizing or refusing, which oral tasks ask candidates to carry out appropriately.

A simulated conversation in which the candidate plays a role and responds to prompts, using suitable register and speech acts to accomplish a set task.

The convention governing who speaks when in a conversation; managing it well means knowing how to take, hold and yield the floor in French.

Use of vous to address one person formally or to signal distance, as opposed to tu; the choice depends on age, status and social setting.

The rise and fall of pitch across an utterance, which in French distinguishes statements from questions and conveys emotion or emphasis.

The unstressed vowel written e that may be pronounced lightly or dropped entirely depending on surrounding sounds, as in the two common pronunciations of petit.

A short prepared oral presentation in which a candidate announces a topic, develops it in ordered parts and concludes, often followed by questions from the examiner.

A short expression such as alors, en fait, donc or bon that organizes spoken language, fills pauses and signals the speaker's stance or a shift in the message.