Tense triggers & writing tips

Tenses Answer
Present
Dhabitude Cest
Normalement Il y a
Aujourdhui
Present tense of any verb

Past
Ce matin Ctait
Hier soir Il y avait
Le weekend dernier
Hier soir Pass compos of any verb
En 2012

Future
Demain Ce sera
Ce soir Il y aura
Le weekend prochain
A lavenir Future tense of any verb
En 2017 Je vais + infin
Jespre + infin
Je voudrais

Conditional
Question : Quelles seraient- Ce serait
elles des vacances idales ? Il y aurait
Answer : Je voudrais + verb Je devrais + infinitive

Conditional of any verb

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Linking words
Car
Cependent
malheureusement
pourtant
aussi
Mais
Donc
Parce que remember parce quil y avait beaucoup de choses faire

Get out of the past tenses

Il a dit Jaime le foot
Jai pens Je dois rentrer chez
moi
Je me suis dit Je suis perdu

Negatives
Use strong negatives

Je ne regarde jamais la tl
Il ny a rien faire
Je ne vois personne

Good for verb marks

Use same verb different person
Use same verb different tense
Use infinitves easy way to max out on the marks!

On peut aller voir / manger

Je voudrais apprendre nager et
skier et jouer au foot
Je voulais apprendre lire
Je veux apprendre

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How is it marked ?

Content
Remember 5 individual content bits = 10 marks

Verbs : 18 correct, different verbs remember accents

no accent no mark !

OLF: accurate use of interesting language

Adjectives they must agree!

Object pronouns
(il ma dit, je me suis dit) : je lai trouv

Quantity (beaucoup de, trop de)

Prepositions
(en, a, dans, sur) use en France, Paris
Keep it simple !!

Linking words (cependant, malheureusement, en

plus, aussi)

Negatives
(nepas, ne.. jamais see above!)

If (si javais la chance, jirais)

Time (pendant, depuis, du 15 au 17 juin

du, de la, des

Longer sentences (subordination: parce que, qui

and que)

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Impressive structures
1. Plus/moins...plus/moin The more/the less., the more/less.
s + normal word order Plus je vais en France plus japprends la langue

2. en + present When I was getting on the plane I realised that

participle en montant lavion je me suis rendu compte que

After opening my presents, I (must be SAME

3. Aprs avoir + Past SUBJECT) Apres avoir ouvert mes cadeauxja
Participle mang

After brushing our teeth, we

4. Aprs (s') tre + Past After going to the cinema
Participle (agreeing?) Apres nous tre bross les dents nous.
Apres tre all au cinema

I had been playing tennis for

5. Present or imperfect I have not seen him for
tense + DEPUIS Je joue au tennis depuis cinq ans
(normal tense if Je ne le vois pas depuis un an
negative)
Tennis? I play it every day
Le tennis, jy joue chaque jour
6. y pronoun (replacing
constructions for Before VERBing, we (must be same subject)
OBJECTS) avant de partir, je prends le petit dejeuner

7. avant de + infinitive Instead of VERBing

au lieu de jouer au foot, je joue au basket

8. au lieu de + infinitive Without VERBing, we (must be same subject)

Without talking we entered the theatre.
Sans parler, nous sommes entrs le theatre
9. sans + infinitive
Drinking water is important/Smoking is dangerous for
health
Boire de leau est important/ Fumer est dangereux
10. Infinitive as a pour la sant
subject
X is more interesting than Y but less useful than Z
La geographie est plus interessante que.et moins
11. comparatives interessant que le francais, mais la matiere la plus
(more, less, just as) passionant est le dessin.
superlative
(most/least) We got mugged / we let ourselves be persuaded
On sest fait vol /on sest laisse persuad

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12. se faire/se
laisser/se voir +
INFINITIVE

If I failed, I would redo my exams

Si jchouais mes exams je les passerais encore une
13. hypothetical si fois/lannee prochaine
clause si + imperfect
+ conditional If I had known, I would have done more work
Si javais su, jaurais fait plus de travail

14. too late

hypothetical si clause
si + pluperfect + I spent two hours watching TV
conditional perfect Jai pass des heures regarder la tlvision.

We were about to leave / Just as we were leaving

15. passer du temps Nous etions sur le point de partir quand.
faire quelque chose

16. tre sur le point He has just arrived

de + infinitive/juste au il vient darriver
moment o +
imperfect
He let me do it /he asked me to do it
17. venir de + il ma permet de le faire.
infinitive Il ma demand de le faire.

Two days ago,

Il y a deux jours
18. permettre /
dfendre / demander / Frquemment /Nejamais /Quelquefois /Chaque jour
conseiller qn de Normalement/rgulirement/ Le weekend prochain/le
faire qc weekend dernier/de temps en temps/ souvent
Rarement/ neque
19. Il y a + time,

Aller au parc dattractions /Prendre les photos

20. A variety of time Faire des excursions regarder les feuilletons/rendre
expressions visite quelquun/ bavarder avec mes amis/ envoyer
les texto/ jouer aux jeux-vidos/visiter les sites
historiques

21. A variety of Je mintresse a +inf/noun

activity Je le trouve trop facile/difficile/ennuyeux/barbant
Je dteste
5
 Ce que jaime le plus cest
a me passionne

22. A variety of
opinion verbs IN ALL
TENSES

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Question practice

3a)

Dcrivez une mission de tlvision que vous avez vue

rcemment. Expliquez pourquoi vous lavez trouve intressante
Dcrivez une mission que vous naimez pas. Donnez vos raisons
votre avis, quels sont les aspects positifs et ngatifs de la
tlvision

30 words per point. New paragraph per point.

E.g.

Television pleases me a lot. Last night I saw Eastenders: it was very good and I
watched it with my friend. We watched it at my house after school. (29 words)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

We had fun and I like it because I love the plot and the people who are very
funny. For example, last night, Sharon hit Nigel: I found it fascinating! (30 words)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

I hate Cash in the Attic. My sister always watches it when I want to watch
football and she never lets me see my favourite programmes. (26 words)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Cash in the Attic bores me because the idea seems to me to be stupid and the
man acts like an idiot and talks rubbish. (25 words)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

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In my opinion, television can be very sociable and my family always watches
Downton Abbey, which is very exciting and helps me learn about history. (25
words)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

However, I believe that a lot of programmes are bad for your health and if you
watch too much television, it can damage your health and you can become fat .
(31 words)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

New French words/ phrases

Television pleases me a lot. Last night I saw Eastenders: it was very good and
I watched it with my friend. We watched it at my house after school. (29 words)

We had fun and I like it because I love the plot and the people who are very
funny. For example, last night, Sharon hit Nigel: I found it fascinating! (30 words)

I hate Cash in the Attic. My sister always watches it when I want to watch
football and she stops me seeing my favourite programmes. (26 words)

Cash in the Attic bores me because the idea seems to me to be stupid and
the man acts like an idiot and talks rubbish. (25 words)

In my opinion, television can be very sociable and my family always watches

Downton Abbey, which is very exciting and that helps me learn about
history. (25 words)

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However, I believe that a lot of programmes are bad for your health and if you
watch too much television, it can damage your health and you can become
fat . (31 words)

9
Writing

Question 3: 130 140 words

There are 5 relevant communication points per question, each worth a

maximum of 2 marks.

2 ticks
Message clearly communicated. Minor errors (adjective endings, use of
prepositions
etc.) are tolerated.

1 tick
Communication of some meaning is achieved, but the message may be
ambiguous or incomplete.

0 ticks Nothing of worth communicated.

Example

1. Dcrivez une mission de tlvision que vous avez vue rcemment

INSIST ON PAST TENSE FOR 2 COMMUNICATION MARKS ALLOW ANY

DESCRIPTIVE DETAIL RELATING TO TV PROGRAMME
(for communication only, any past tense is acceptable)

2. Expliquez pourquoi vous lavez trouve intressante

FOR 2 COMMUNICATION MARKS ALLOW ANY SENSIBLE REASON FOR

FINDING THE PROGRAMME INTERESTING IN AN APPROPRIATE TENSE

3. Dcrivez une mission que vous naimez pas

FOR 2 COMMUNICATION MARKS ALLOW ANYTHING SENSIBLE IN AN

APPROPRIATE TENSE, EXPECT A PRESENT TENSE

4. Donnez vos raisons

FOR 2 COMMUNICATION MARKS ALLOW ANY SENSIBLE REASON IN AN

APPROPRIATE TENSE
Must not be the same piece of information as has previously been rewarded
(however could be similar, e.g. the negative version of a positive statement)

5. votre avis, quels sont les aspects positifs et ngatifs de la

tlvision

FOR 2 COMMUNICATION MARKS ALLOW ANY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE

ASPECT IN AN APPROPRIATE TENSE
Must not be the same piece of information as has previously been rewarded.

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Extra phrases

X me plat beaucoup I like X a lot

Nous nous sommes amuss We had fun
X mennuie X bores me
La tl peut tre TV can be
Cela maide comprendre This helps me to understand
Je crois que I believe that
Je pense que I think that
Pourtant Hopwever
Cela peut nuire votre sant This can harm your health
On peut devenir gros You can get fat / one can become fat
Chez moi At my house / to my house
Lhistoire The story , plot, History
Jai fait du ski I did skiiing
I prefer
f
Je pr re
Il faisait beau / froid It was good / cold weather
Il pleuvait It was raining
Nous navons pas gagn We didnt win
A lavenir In the future
Nous allons voir un film We are going to see a film
Au cinma To / at the cineman
Je sais faire de la natation I know how to swim
Je nai rien fait I did nothing
Sauf regarder la tl Except watching TV
Aprs avoir jou After playing / after having played
Au parc In the park
Beaucoup de A lot of
Jtais jeune I was young
Ctait It was
Le mois dernier Last month
Je suis all chez X I went to Xs house
Nous sommes alls chez X We went to Xs house
Jai jou I played
Jai visit I visited
Jai crit I wrote
Enfin In the end

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Writing: les phrases mortelles!
Parce quil y avait Because there was / were
Je me suis dit, I said to myself
Je me sentais content / I felt happy / sad
triste
Je pense que I think that
Je crois que I believe that
Je pensais que I thought that
Je croyais que I believed that
Je lai trouv + adjective I found it (+adjective)
Je lai aim I liked it
Je lai ador / je lai I loved it / i hated it
dtest
Je me suis amus I had fun / i had a good time
Nous nous sommes We had fun
amuss
Je suis all I went to
Nous sommes alls We went to
Je suis rest I stayed
Nous sommes rests We stayed
Jai visit I visited
Nous avons visit We visited
Jai voyag I travelled
Nous avons voyag en We Travlled by train
train
Jai vu I saw
Nous avons vu We saw
Jai regard I watched
Nous avons regard We wacthed
Je suis devenu triste / I became sad / happy
content
Jai pu + infinitive / I could eat
manger
Example : Jai pu aller voir Spectre
Je voudrais + infinitive I would like to
Example : Je voudrais regarder le match de rugby..
Ctait It was
Jai jou COD / au foot I played COD, football
( + le foot)
Jai pris I took (prendre)
Il faisait beau / froid / It was good / cold / bad
mauvais
Il pleuvait It was raining
Je voulais + infin I wanted to
En France / en Italie In France / Italy
Londres, Paris In cities /towns

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