Year 8 - French
How people do things: comparative adjectives and adverbs
Friends and family: comparison with adjectives and adverbs
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupils extend their knowledge of feminine adjective agreement before then learning the comparative forms of adjectives and adverbs and exploring these in comparative structures 'plus...que', 'moins...que' and 'aussi...que. Pupils learn the SSCs om,on and um,un before a vowel.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to use adjectives to compare people and things and adverbs to compare how people do things.
Key Notes
- Before a consonant or at the end of a word the SSCs [um/un] sound the same; they are both nasal sounds.
- When 'um' or 'un' come before a vowel the 'm' and 'n' are pronounced and the two oral sounds are like [u] + 'm' or 'n'.
- The three ways to compare two nouns using a comparative adjective are 'plus...que', 'moins...que' and 'aussi ... que'.
- The adjective goes in the middle of the comparative phrase, e.g. 'le village est plus grand que la ville'.
- In this way, we can compare how people do things using adverbs in the middle, e.g. 'Léa travaille plus vite qu'Amir'.
Vocabulary To Learn
- [u]: sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as the [u] in 'tu'
- [um/un]: sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as the [um/un] in 'parfum'; it is a nasal sound
- adjective: word that gives information about a noun
- adverb: word that describes a verb or an adjective
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- I only use adjectives with comparative structures like 'plus ... que'.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
Before a consonant or at the end of a word the SSCs [um/un] sound the same; they are both nasal sounds. When 'um' or 'un' come before a vowel the 'm' and 'n' are pronounced and the two oral sounds are like [u] + 'm' or 'n'.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. '[u]'
sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as the [u] in 'tu'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: I only use adjectives with comparative structures like 'plus ... que'. Correction: Adjectives help us to compare two nouns with comparative structures such as 'plus ... que'. For example, 'Emily est plus petite que Lucy'. We can use adverbs in the same way to compare how people do things. For example, 'Emily va plus vite que Lucy'.
More Lessons In This Unit
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