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Year 8 - French

How people celebrate: 'son, sa, ses' meaning 'his', 'her', 'your (in general)'

Celebrations and festivals: numbers, dates, 'on' in present tense

Unit Summary

Pupils revisit -er verbs and question words with 'est-ce que in contrast to intonation and inversion questions. They learn numbers 13-31, use the pronoun 'on' meaning 'people, you, one'. Possessive adjectives now include son,sa,ses and notre,nos. The SSCs em,am, aim,im and om are practised.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to say more about how people celebrate using 'son, sa, ses' to mean 'his, her' or 'your, their (in general)'.

Key Notes

  • The SSC [om] is the same sound as [on], like in 'non' and 'nom'.
  • When this sound appears in front of the letters -p or -b, it is spelled with [om] instead of [on].
  • To say 'his', 'her' we use the possessive adjectives 'son' (masculine) 'sa' (feminine) or 'ses' (plural).
  • Possessive adjectives agree with the noun that follows so we often need context to identify the 'possessor'.
  • 'Son', 'sa' 'ses' can also mean 'your' or 'their' when talking about things belonging to people in general.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • [om]: SSC like the [om] sound in 'nom' which means 'name'
  • [on]: SSC like the [on] in 'non' which means 'no'
  • possessive adjective: a word that goes before a noun to show ownership or belonging
  • son, sa, ses: possessive adjectives for 'his, her' and 'your, their' (in general)

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The possessive adjective 'son, sa, ses' matches the person who owns the noun that follows. So 'his' is 'son, 'her' is 'sa' and 'their' is 'ses'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

The SSC [om] is the same sound as [on], like in 'non' and 'nom'. When this sound appears in front of the letters -p or -b, it is spelled with [om] instead of [on].

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. '[om]'

SSC like the [om] sound in 'nom' which means 'name'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: The possessive adjective 'son, sa, ses' matches the person who owns the noun that follows. So 'his' is 'son, 'her' is 'sa' and 'their' is 'ses'. Correction: In French, the possessive pronoun matches the noun that follows it, not the person to whom the object belongs. This is why sometimes you cannot tell whether the owner is male or female because the words for 'his' and 'her' are the same in French.

More Lessons In This Unit

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