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Year 8 - French

Weekday routine: inversion questions, negation

Everyday life: -ER verbs in the present and past

Unit Summary

In this unit, knowledge of -er verbs in the present tense is embedded, and intonation and inversion questions with and without question words are revisited. Pupils contrast present and perfect tenses with 'avoir' for -er verbs, faire and dire. The SSCs um,un and -gn- are taught.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use inversion and negation to ask and answer questions about your everyday activities.

Key Notes

  • Change statements into questions in French with raised intonation; a question word at the end gets more information.
  • More formal inversion yes/no questions swap subject and verb; question words go at the start of information questions.
  • For negation meaning 'not', put ne … pas around the first verb in a sentence; ne shortens to n' before a vowel.
  • To develop productive skills, keep a bank of vocabulary with words from texts, glossaries or the dictionary.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • intonation: rise and fall of the voice in speaking
  • inversion: when the subject pronoun and the verb switch place to form a question
  • negation: two elements e.g. ne … pas around the main verb expressing negative meaning

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • If you use inversion and add a question word, you don't need to change your intonation.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

Change statements into questions in French with raised intonation; a question word at the end gets more information. More formal inversion yes/no questions swap subject and verb; question words go at the start of information questions.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'intonation'

rise and fall of the voice in speaking. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: If you use inversion and add a question word, you don't need to change your intonation. Correction: Even when using inversion and/or question words, still raise your voice at the end of a sentence in French when asking a question.

More Lessons In This Unit

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