French Gcse Tips And Useful Phrases

Here are some tips inspired by my GCSE students' mistakes in the last 2 weeks.

Writing/Speaking:

Dans le matin, dans le soir, dans le weekend

Write: Le matin, le soir, le weekend (In the morning/In the evening/At the weekend)

Aussi, je vais � la patinoire Je vais aussi � la patinoire.

'Aussi' is an adverb, and all adverbs should be placed after your verb or between the auxiliary and past participle for tenses such as perfect, pluperfect, future and condional perfect.

Aussi, j'ai visit� la Russie et le Japon J'ai aussi visit� la Russie et le Japon. (perfect tense) .

'Tr�s' doesn't work with the adjectives below, replace it by 'vraiment' if you want to insist:

tr�s nul = vraiment nul

tr�s g�nial = vraiment g�nial

tr�s d�licieux = vraiment d�licieux

What is the difference between 'j'allais' and 'je suis all�'?

J'allais (imperfect): I used to go/I was going

Use 'j'allais' for things you used to do in the past, when you were younger for example, or if an action was interrupted by another:

J'allais chez le docteur quand mon amie m'appel�e: I was going to the doctor's when my friend called.

Je suis all� (perfect): I went (one-off event)

Hier, je suis all� au journal pour pr�senter mon article. Yesterday, I went to the newspaper to present my article.

Reminder:

JE VAIS = I'm going/I go (present)

Vocabulary:

propre: own (ma propre chambre: my own room)

or clean (la maison est propre)

sale: dirty (not to confuse with 'salle': room, although it's the same sound)

About hobbies/activities and why you like them:

Cela me donne de l'�nergie: it gives me energy

Cela me met de bonne humeur: it puts me in a good mood

Use new words, don't just stick to 'bon, bien, super, g�nial', that everybody uses, be different and stand out.

For food:

succulent = d�licieux

For subjects, films, holidays, day out

passionnant = fascinant = tr�s int�ressant

palpitant: exciting

By the way, they are adjectives

Some essentials:

La plupart du temps: most of the time

Tout le temps: all the time

Bien que: although

J'ai l'intention.d'aller/d'�tudier/de partir = I plan.to go/to study/to leave

J'ai l'intention de + infinitive

Je voudrais: I'd like to

Je voulais: I wanted

ne.que: only

se soucier de = to care/to worry

Useful irregular futures:

J'aurai: I will have / je ferai: I will do/make /j'irai: I'll go /je verrai: I'll see

Pronunciation:

A lot of my students say 'je jouais' to say 'je joue' or j'�tudiais' when they mean 'j'�tudie'. The 'e' is silent. So if you pronounce the verb the wrong way, like above, you're saying 'I used to play/I was playing' instead of 'I play/I'm playing' or 'I used to study/I was studying' instead of 'I study/I'm studying'. Mots cl�s Technorati : French,GCSE,Common mistakes,mistakes,French verbs,French expressions,French idioms,adverbs,A level,AS,A2,revision,French revision,GCSE topics,perfect,imperfect,Future,false friend