GCSE-readyGCSE and International GCSE French: common mistakes
The wrong answers students pick most often in our French questions, and why they are wrong. Read these before a test, then open the lesson for anything that surprises you.
Getting started
- Nouns: le, la, un, une and mon, ma, mes
- Not “le”. Le is for masculine nouns.
- Not “l'”. L' is only used before a vowel or silent h.
- Not “les”. Les is plural.
- Four key verbs: être, avoir, aller, faire
- Not “He is cold”. That would be il a froid. Il fait froid is about the weather.
- Not “font”. Font is from faire.
- Not “sont”. Sont is from être.
- Numbers, dates and time
- Not “9:45”. That would be neuf heures quarante-cinq. Moins le quart takes 15 minutes away from nine.
- Opinions, reasons and connectives
- Not “car”. In this sentence car is not the vehicle. The French for car (vehicle) is la voiture.
- Not “Je déteste devoirs.”. French needs an article here.
Theme 1: My personal world
- Friends: adjective agreement and position
- Not “sportifs”. That is masculine plural.
- Not “sportif”. That is masculine.
- Not “sportives”. That is feminine plural.
- Equality, identity and respect
- Not “ont”. Tout le monde takes a singular verb.
Theme 2: Lifestyle and wellbeing
- Food and drink: du, de la, des and negatives
- Not “de la”. After pas, de la becomes de.
- Vocabulary: shopping, money, food and eating out
- Not “Je ne mange pas de la viande.”. After pas, de la becomes de.
Theme 3: My neighbourhood
- In town: places and directions
- Not “Tourner à gauche”. That is the infinitive.
- Not “Tourne à droite”. That is the tu form, and droite means right.
Theme 5: Studying and my future
- Future jobs: the future tense
- Not “travaillerais”. That is the conditional.
- Vocabulary: school life, rules and exams
- Not “I passed an exam”. To pass is réussir.
- Vocabulary: jobs, work and future plans
- Not “Mon père est un mécanicien.”. French leaves out un / une before a job after être.
Theme 6: Travel and tourism
- Vocabulary: countries, nationalities and greetings
- Not “Mon amie est Française.”. Nationality adjectives do not take a capital letter.
Grammar, sounds and key vocabulary
- The present tense: -ir and -re verbs, prendre and mettre
- Not “finons”. The plural needs -iss-.
- Not “finirons”. That is the future tense.
- Not “prendent”. Prendre drops the d in the plural.
- The perfect tense: more past participles
- Not “est parti”. The participle must agree: partie.
- Higher: connaître, écrire and other irregular verbs
- Not “connaisez”. It needs a double s.
- Not “Es prudent!”. Es is the present tense, not the command.
- Verbs with à and de; chaque, plusieurs and tout
- Not “toutes”. Toutes is feminine plural.
- Adverbs: how, when, where and how often
- Not “meilleur”. Meilleur is an adjective (better + noun).
- Higher: pour and sans + infinitive, il est + adjective + de, le mieux
- Not “Il est sorti sans mangeant.”. French does not use -ant after sans.
- Not “Mon frère joue le meilleur.”. Meilleur is an adjective; with a verb you need le mieux.
- Vocabulary: cognates and false friends
- Not “My brother is very sensible”. Sensible in English is raisonnable.
- Higher vocabulary: issues, opinions and linking words
- Not “actually”. Actually is en fait.
Grammar and key vocabulary
- The future and conditional: all the irregular stems
- Not “verrais”. Verrais is the conditional.
- Not “devrions”. Devrions is the conditional.
- Linking ideas: conjunctions, depuis and quelqu'un
- Not “Car”. Car cannot start the sentence; it goes between two ideas.