Study Hub

Study Guides

This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.

Back to Study HubBrowse Year 8 French Guides

Year 8 - French

When people celebrate: dates

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 form the date in French to express when people celebrate.

Key Notes

  • The SSCs [aim] and [im] sound identical in French.
  • 'Préférer' is a regular -er verb but the 2nd -é in the stem changes to an -è in all forms apart from 'nous' and 'vous'.
  • In French we add 'le' before a number to make it into a date. 'Of' in English is not translated, e.g. 'le deux mai'.
  • We only use an ordinal number to express the first of the month in French, e.g. 'le premier janvier.'

Vocabulary To Learn

  • [aim/im]: sound-symbol correspondence like the [aim] in 'faim'
  • préférer: French verb meaning 'to prefer, preferring'
  • ordinal numbers: numbers that indicate the position of something in a series, e.g. 'first', 'second', 'third'

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • To express the date I use 'de' for 'of' so 2nd January would be 'le deux de janvier'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The SSCs [aim] and [im] sound identical in French. 'Préférer' is a regular -er verb but the 2nd -é in the stem changes to an -è in all forms apart from 'nous' and 'vous'.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. '[aim/im]'

sound-symbol correspondence like the [aim] in 'faim'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: To express the date I use 'de' for 'of' so 2nd January would be 'le deux de janvier'. Correction: There is no need to translate 'of' into French to express the date. For example 2nd January would be 'le deux janvier'.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 French guide library.