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ISBN: 978 1 4718 6717 0
eISBN: 978 1 4718 6680 7

Text copyright © Nigel Pearce 2018

First published in 2018 by Galore Park Publishing Ltd,

An Hachette UK Company

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Introduction

About this book

Originally entitled So You Really Want to Learn French, the course has been thoroughly revised under its new title French for Common Entrance, and much new work relevant to the latest ISEB examination syllabus has been included. Because students start French at different times, the course is written with full awareness of the two levels at which Common Entrance French may be taken. Suggestions as to how the course may be used for students approaching the exam at different levels may be found in the Teacher Notes and Answers (available as a PDF download).

Why French looks different

One of the first things a student will notice about French is the accents. They tell you how to pronounce parts of a word and can distinguish one word from another spelled the same.

1 The acute accent (l’accent aigu)

Written over the letter ‘e’ this makes it sound like the ‘é’ sound in ‘café’, for example: bébé (baby)

2 The grave accent (l’accent grave)

Written over the letter ‘e’, this makes it sound similar to the vowel in the English word ‘bed’, for example: crème (cream).

Written over an ‘a’, it makes no change to the sound, but does differentiate certain words, for example: il a (he has), à (to/at).

3 The circumflex accent (l’accent circonflexe)

Written over a vowel, this gives the letter ‘e’ the same sound as ‘è’, for example: fête (holiday/party).

4 The cedilla (la cédille)

Written under a ‘c’, this softens the sound from a ‘k’ to an ‘s’ sound, for example: ça (that).

Note that the acute, grave and circumflex accents are often not written over capital letters, but are included in this publication so that students learn the correct spellings.

Notes on features in this book

Exam style Exercice

Exam-style exercises have been included to help familiarise yourself with the format of the exam. Where these are specific to either Level 1 or 2, the following icons are used. All other exam-style exercises are relevant for both levels.

Level 1 exercises Level 1

Level 2 exercises Level 2

Exercises originally designed for specific skills are shown by symbols, although, of course, many exercises can be used in several different ways.

Listening

Reading

Speaking

Writing

1 Bonjour!

In this first chapter you will find out how to greet people, ask their names and ask how they are. You will also learn a little about France, the country where the French language was born. Did you know that it is also spoken in many other countries around the world?

Exercice 1.1

Listen to the conversation between two teachers and some pupils.

bonjour! | hello!
madame | madam, Mrs
monsieur | sir, Mr
ça va? | how are you?
ça va bien | I’m fine
merci | thank you
et vous? | what about you?
ça va | I’m OK
salut! | hi!
et toi? | what about you?
très | very

1  With a partner, practise saying hello to each other in French.

2  Ask your partner how they are.

Tu or vous? Two ways to say ‘you’

Which is the right word for ‘you’? There are two answers to this question.

1  tu is used when ‘you’ is just one person.

vous is used when ‘you’ is more than one person.

2  tu is used when we are talking to a friend, a pet or a member of our family.

vous is used when we don’t know the person well, for example a teacher or a shop assistant.

After words like et, tu becomes toi: Et toi?

vous never changes: Et vous?

Je m’appelle (giving or asking names)

To say our names, we use these expressions:

je m’appelle | I am called
tu t’appelles | you are called
il s’appelle | he is called
elle s’appelle | she is called

Another way of saying our name is simply to say: je suis (‘I am’), for example:

Je suis Nicolas.
I am Nicolas.

When asking what someone’s name is, the question Comment t’appelles-tu? can be asked in two other ways, just by changing the order of the words:

Tu t’appelles comment?

Comment tu t’appelles?

Exercice 1.2

Listen to the audio track.

je m’appelle | I am called/my name is
comment t’appelles-tu? | what is your name?
moi | me
et | and
tu t’appelles | you are called
je | I
il | he
elle | she
il s’appelle | he is called
elle s’appelle | she is called
je suis | I am
excuse-moi! | excuse me!
oui | yes
non | no

1  With a partner, practise saying what you are called to each other in French.

2  Ask your partner what he or she is called.

Exercice 1.3

Listen to the audio track. You should notice people asking others what their name is and how they answer. Listen a few times so you get used to these expressions.

le nouveau professeur | the new teacher
n’est-ce pas? | isn’t that so?
alors | so,
c’est ça | that’s right
au revoir | goodbye

Now get into groups and practise similar conversations, saying ‘hello’ and introducing yourself in French. Then say goodbye.

Exercice 1.4

Comment dit-on … en français? – How does one say … in French?

Give the French for:

1  goodbye

2  he

3  she

Choose your answers from these words. One of them is not needed!

Exercice 1.5

Give the French for:

1  She is called

2  He is called

3  Hello, my name is

4  What is your name?

C’est bon! – It’s good!

The French for ‘good’ is bon. You have already met this word when you learned to say ‘hello’: bonjour, which actually means ‘good day’. Here are some other expressions using bon:

bonsoir! | good evening!
bonne nuit! | good night!
bon anniversaire! | happy birthday!
bon appétit! | enjoy your meal!
bonne chance! | good luck!
bon voyage! | have a good journey!

And then, of course, there is the French for a sweet: un bonbon!

C’est bon, n’est-ce pas? It’s good, isn’t it?

Exercice 1.6

Write down a conversation between two people greeting each other. Try to use as many of the new expressions you have learnt as you can.

Draw a picture with speech bubbles in French to go with it.

Practise the conversation with a partner.

Exercice 1.7

Role play

Work in pairs. Prepare and practise this conversation.

Exercice 1.8

Choose the correct answer.

1  Il/Elle s’appelle … (Charles/Sophie)

2  Comment t’appelles-…? (tu/vous)

3  Je m’appelle … (imagine the je is you yourself!)

4  Et …? (toi/vous) Comment tu t’appelles?

5  Elle s’appelle … (Marie/Philippe)

Exercice 1.9

Listen to the audio track. Try to follow the audio by reading the passage at the same time.

Je m’appelle Sophie Legrand. J’habite à Saintes en France. À l’école j’ai deux amis, Jean et Robert. Robert habite à La Rochelle et Jean habite à Nantes. J’ai aussi deux amies, Marie-Claude et Chantal. Marie-Claude habite à Saintes, comme Chantal. Et toi? Où habites-tu? Tu habites en Angleterre?

j’habite | I live
à Saintes | in Saintes
en France | in France
à l’école | at school
j’ai | I have
deux amis | two friends (m.)
deux amies | two friends (f.)
à Nantes | in Nantes
il/elle habite | he/she lives
aussi | also
comme | like
où | where
tu habites | you live
en Angleterre | in England

Say which words would come in the gaps.

1  Sophie habite à ….

2  Robert … à La Rochelle.

3  Sophie a deux …, Robert et Jean.

4  Sophie a deux amies, … et Chantal.

5  Marie-Claude habite à ….

Reminder: a = ‘has’ but à (with the accent) = ‘to’, ‘in’ or ‘at’ (depending on which is best in English).

Exercice 1.10

La carte de France – Map of France

Copy the map of France. Use an atlas or the internet to identify the following towns, for example: 12 Avignon

Avignon | Marseille
Bordeaux | Nantes
Brest | Nice
Calais | Orléans
La Rochelle | Paris
Le Havre | Rouen
Lyon | Toulouse

Les nombres – Numbers

Here are the numbers 1–12:

un(e) | one
deux | two
trois | three
quatre | four
cinq | five
six | six
sept | seven
huit | eight
neuf | nine
dix | ten
onze | eleven
douze | twelve

Reminder: The French for ‘one’ is also the French for ‘a’, and can be either asculine (un) or feminine (une). There is more on this in the next chapter.

Exercice 1.11

Listen to the audio while you look at the pictures.

Help Madame Martin with her weekly order from the boulangerie, as in the example:

huit croissants, s’il vous plaît
eight croissants, please.

Exercice 1.12

Les mathématiques

Look at the picture.

Fill in the missing numbers so that the answer to the sums is always ten.