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

School is out! Adverb placement and translation of the perfect tense

Past events: the perfect tense, questions

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils extend their knowledge of the perfect tense as they practise asking intonation, inversion and est-ce que questions in the perfect tense. They learn irregular past participles, practise the two English translations (I did, I have done) for the French perfect tense

Lesson Summary

You will learn to translate 'le passé compose' into both the perfect tense and the simple past in English, whilst placing adverbs correctly in French.

Key Notes

  • The SSCs [qu], [ch] and [th] are consonant clusters pronounced as in 'question', 'chercher' and 'th'.
  • Adverbs of time (saying exactly when), and of place, normally come at the beginning of a sentence: hier, j'ai travaillé.
  • Other adverbs, including adverbs of time saying generally when, come after the conjugated verb form: j'ai enfin mangé.
  • The perfect tense can be translated into both the simple past and the present perfect in English.
  • Sentences with adverbs of a specific time use the simple past in English.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • [th]: pronounced as in 'thé'
  • [ch]: pronounced as in 'question'
  • [qu]: pronounced as in 'chercher'
  • adverb: a word that describes a verb
  • perfect tense: a verb tense that describes completed actions in the past e.g. I listened, you played

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The sound-symbol correspondences [qu], [ch] and [th] are pronounced the same as in English.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The SSCs [qu], [ch] and [th] are consonant clusters pronounced as in 'question', 'chercher' and 'th'. Adverbs of time (saying exactly when), and of place, normally come at the beginning of a sentence: hier, j'ai travaillé.

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

pronounced as in 'thé'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: The sound-symbol correspondences [qu], [ch] and [th] are pronounced the same as in English. Correction: The SSCs [qu], [ch] and [th] are pronounced differently in French than in English.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 French guide library.