IDENTITY AND CULTURE Customs French customs can be different from those in Britain. You might need to know about some in your exam. Tu and vous Use tu when you are: being friendly or informal talking to your own family or friends talking to people roughly your age or younger. Use vous when you are: being polite or formal talking to someone older that you don t know referring to more than one person. 8 Read what Jamal says about French life and answer the questions. Je suis arrivé en France il y a quelques années et j ai remarqué plein de différences. La vie familiale est importante et on mange souvent en famille. De plus les Français sont vraiment contents quand j essaie de parler français. Je trouve un peu bizarre qu on salue avec une poignée de main parce que c est trop formel à mon avis, mais ça me plaît quand on s embrasse sur les joues. 1. Give two examples of differences Jamal noted in French customs. 2. What does he like about French greetings? 10 Turn over for the answer.
And the answer is 1. The French often eat together as a family. They like visitors to try to speak French. 2. That people kiss each other on the cheek. Remember that ça me plaît is a way of saying that you like something, so this section will provide the answer to question 2. Tu endings: regular -er verbs: remove the -er and add -es e.g. parler > tu parles regular -ir verbs: remove the -ir and add -is e.g. fi nir > tu fi nis regular -re verbs: remove the -re and add -s e.g. répondre > tu réponds For more on verb endings, see cards 83 and 84. Greetings As well as addressing older people you don t know as vous, remember to add Monsieur or Madame, as appropriate. If you only remember one thing... If in doubt, use vous.
IDENTITY AND CULTURE 13 Technology and social media We all use technology a lot in everyday life and there are a lot of technical terms to remember. blog (m) blog clavier (m) keyboard courrier électronique / email / mél (m) email écran (m) screen effacer to delete en ligne online fi chier (m) fi le forum (m) chatroom Internet (m) internet logiciel (m) software mot de passe (m) password numérique digital ordi(nateur) (m) computer page d accueil (f) homepage page web (f) web page site web (m) website surfer to surf taper to type tchatter to chat télécharger to download Vrai ou faux? Luc met ses photos sur Instagram parce que c est plus facile et plus simple que Snapchat, mais sa sœur a créé une page Facebook pour ses photos. Son père, par contre, préfère les imprimer et les coller dans un album, façon traditionelle. 1. Luc préfère Snapchat pour ses photos. 2. Sa sœur met ses photos sur Facebook. 3. Son père est collectionneur de timbres. 16 17 Turn over for the answer.
And the answer is 1. faux 2. vrai 3. faux Don t be fooled by words that appear both in the text and in the question. That doesn t necessarily mean that the statement is true! Comparatives You often want to compare two things in French. To do this, you use: plus + adjective / adverb + que more than moins + adjective / adverb + que less than aussi + adjective / adverb + que as as Mon portable est moins récent que le tien. My mobile is less up-to-date than yours. Elle tape aussi vite que moi. She types as quickly as me. For more on comparisons, see card 77. Watch out Don t try to get too technical when speaking or writing about technology: keep it simple and make sure your French is correct. If you only remember one thing... When you re using comparatives, the adjective must still agree with the fi rst noun, e.g. Elle est nettement plus intelligente que son frère.
LOCAL AREA, HOLIDAYS AND TRAVEL Travel 27 Travel lends itself to discussions of plans and aspirations so you ll need to use future tenses. pièce d identité (f) identity document quartier (m) area séjour (m) stay séjourner to stay traversée (f) crossing vacances d hiver / de neige (fpl) winter / skiing holiday vol (m) flight voyage (m) journey voyager to travel Talking about the future When you want to discuss intentions or plans, use: the present tense, as in English: Je vais à New York. I m going to New York. the future tense: J irai en Allemagne. I ll go to Germany. the conditional: Je voudrais aller en Chine. I d like to go to China. For more on the future and conditional tenses, see cards 91 and 92. Express your intention/desire to go to Brazil (le Brésil) in as many ways as possible. 33 Turn over for the answer.
And the answer is For example: C est décidé : Je vais au Brésil / Cet hiver, je vais aller au Brésil / J espère aller au Brésil après mon bac / J irai au Brésil dès que j aurai mis assez d argent de côté / Je voudrais visiter le Brésil un jour This illustrates how there are ways of saying the same thing focus not on what you re saying, but on how you re expressing it. Improving your answers Vary your vocabulary: see, for example, the alternatives for aller on card 24. Use connectives, for example: avant de + infinitive (before doing), en plus (furthermore), puisque (seeing that). Include adverbs, e.g. beaucoup, bien, nettement, souvent Vary your tenses whenever possible including different types of past and future construction. Elaborate on each point, for example, with an opinion. If you only remember one thing... Practise saying the same thing in different ways: it s better to talk about one thing in lots of different ways than to talk about lots of things in the same way.
School day SCHOOL 44 Talking about the school day is a good opportunity to use time phrases (see also card 9). cours (m) lesson heure du déjeuner (f) lunch break la journée scolaire (f) school day récréation (f) break rentrée (f) start of the new school year retenue (f) detention trimestre (m) term Adverbs of time d abord fi rst (of all) puis / ensuite / alors next / then / after that fi nalement fi nally For more on adverbs, see cards 9 and 79. Read Xavier s email and answer the questions. Le matin on commence assez tôt, à huit heures trente. On a quatre cours d une heure, mais il y a une récré de trente minutes après le deuxième cours. Normalement je bavarde avec mes amis mais hier je devais fi nir mes devoirs dans la bibliothèque. 1. What time does the second lesson begin? 2. What time does the break end? 3. Why did Xavier not chat with his friends yesterday? 53 Turn over for the answer.
And the answer is 1. 9.30 2. 11.00 3. Because he had to fi nish his homework You need to work out what time things start and finish before you can answer the questions. Third person plural The third person singular (he / she) and plural (they) of most verbs sound the same but are spelled differently: singular (he / she) plural (they) elle commence elles commencent il rentre ils rentrent But: il fi nis ils fi nissent (pronounce the ss) Irregular third person plural forms: aller to go ils / elles vont they go avoir to have ils / elles ont they have être to be ils / elles sont they are faire to do ils / elles font they do If you only remember two things... -ent on the end of a verb is not pronounced. sont means are, from to be (or not to be) by Shakespeare. Use this to help you remember.
Adverbs Adverbs tell you how an action is done. GRAMMAR 79 Forming adverbs In English, most adverbs end in -ly. In French, most of them end in -ment. You form adverbs by adding -ment to the feminine form of an adjective. heureux heureuse + -ment > heureusement fortunately However, some adverbs don t follow this pattern: vrai vraiment really And some adverbs don t exist as adjectives: vite quickly (the adjective is rapide) Adverbs of frequency Some common adverbs don t end in -ment. d habitude usually de temps en temps from time to time quelquefois sometimes souvent often toujours always Translate the following into French. 1. Unfortunately, I often get up late. 2. I always walk faster than my sister. 3. It s absolutely ridiculous! 91 Turn over for the answer.
And the answer is 1. Malheureusement, je me lève souvent tard. 2. Je marche toujours plus vite que ma sœur. 3. C est absolument ridicule! Notice that the word order in Q2 is different in English and French: in French both adverbs come after the verb. Adverbs of time For narrating a sequence of events: dorénavant from now on prochainement soon fi nalement fi nally subitement suddenly maintenant now tout d un coup all of a sudden Linking adverbs alors so par conséquent as a result cependant however par contre on the other hand en revanche on the other hand plutôt rather néanmoins nevertheless seulement only If you only remember two things... Most adverbs are formed from the feminine form of the adjective + -ment. French adverbs almost always come after the verb.