ENFIELD GRAMMAR SCHOOL MFL Department

Y11 into Y12 - SUMMER TASK 2017

FRENCH

NAME:______________________________________ How would you rate your knowledge of tenses?

1 Excellent

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2 Good

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3 Satisfactory

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4 Unsure

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5 Not good at all

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Aim: re-visit all the main tenses (regular and irregular grammatical patterns) Practice translation techniques. Essay writing. The following tasks are to be completed over the summer break and brought to your first lesson.

Tasks 7 & 8 are compulsory. You should do at least two of the others. 1. Learn a recent French song (recent means from the last three decades) – You must be able to sing or recite the chorus and at least one verse of the song (and understand it!) 2. News Log – Listen to a French News Broadcast once a week and note down five words you learnt from it – you will learn some up-to-date vocabulary such as brexit, drone, ISIS, hooligan, gay marriage, …/etc… http://www.france24.com/fr/ and/or http://www.tv5monde.com/ 3. Current affairs – read article from the following website and sum them up http://theday.co.uk/francais and/or http://www.liberation.fr/apps/ptit-libe/ 4. Un film en français – Watch a film in French with English subtitles. Make a note of 20 words you learnt from the film. Provide a brief review. You could find some background information from a cinema website or online encyclopaedia. 5. Une émission pour enfants – Find the French version of a programme you used to watch when you were little. Watch the programme and make vocabulary notes. 6. Mon premier livre – read a book in French. It can be a children’s book such as Le petit Nicolas.

Tasks 7 & 8 (compulsory) 7. Write a story incorporating all the pictures below in any order. Write 300 words in varied and accurate French. Try to vary your vocabulary and verb tenses as much as possible! Regardez les images suivantes. Vous devez écrire une histoire et chaque image doit figurer dans l’histoire dans n’importe quel ordre. Essayez de varier votre vocabulaire et les temps des verbes autant que possible! Il faut écrire 300 mots. Amusez-vous bien!

8. Complete ALL the following grammar exercises:

The present tense of regular verbs Formation Most verbs have a regular present tense and belong in one of three main groups (or conjugations). In each group you find the stem of the verb by removing the two-letter ending: -er verbs:

trouver



trouve-

-ir verbs:

choisir



chois-

-re verbs:

répondre



répond-

Can you remember the present tense endings for each group above? Example: -er verbs: -e, -es, -e, -ons, -ez, -ent

Meaning The present tense in French has more than one meaning in English: Il cherche une émission. He is looking for a programme. Il cherche en ligne? Does he look on-line? Non, il cherche dans le journal. No, he looks in the newspaper.

1 Fill in the blanks to complete the present tense verb paradigms. infinitive:

trouver

choisir

répondre

je

trouve

choisis

reponds

tu

trouv__

choisis

repon__

il / elle / on

trouve

chois__

repond

nous

trouvons

chois__

repond__

vous

trouv__

choisissez

repondez

ils / elles

trouv__

choisissent

repond__

2 Fill in the blanks with correct present tense form of the infinitives in brackets. Comment tu (trouver) ………………………… les documentaires? Je (poser) ………………………… les questions et vous y (répondre) …………………… Quelle horreur! Il y a trois talk-shows qui (passer) ………………………… à la télé ce soir. Il (finir) ………………………… à quelle heure, le téléfilm? Quoi!? Tu (regarder) ………………………… encore un feuilleton! On (attendre) ………………………… les infos de 20 heures. La télé-réalité, qu’en (penser) ………………………… -vous? Elle n’ (apprécier) ………………………… pas les talk-shows et la télé-réalité la (rendre) ………………………… malade. 3 Find as many present tense examples as you can on the Student’s Book spread and write them below. Regular verbs

Irregular verbs

lisez

admettent

complétez

4 Translate the following sentences into French. I hate sports programmes. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… He thinks that TV is pathetic. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… Frankly, they love TV game shows. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… So, you don’t like anything on TV? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… What are you watching? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… There’s no shortage of stupid reality TV shows. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………

Present tense of regular and irregular verbs (revisited) Check the endings for -er, -ir and -re verbs on page 112 of the grammar reference section in the Student’s Book. The present tense conveys the meaning of several different English verb tenses; for example, je vends can mean ‘I sell’, ‘I am selling’, ‘I do sell’ and even ‘do I sell?’. Don’t try to find a French equivalent for ‘am’ or ‘do’ when you translate these phrases! The present tense of irregular verbs has to be learned by heart, especially avoir, aller, être and faire. See pages 112–113 of the grammar reference section in the Student’s Book for a full list.

1 Fill in the correct present tense forms for each of the infinitives you have chosen, following the example. infinitive

je / j’

tu

il / elle/on

nous

vous

ils/elles

jouer

joue

joues

joue

jouons

jouez

jouent

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8

3 Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. La France (demeurer) .............................. un pays où on va beaucoup au cinéma. Le réalisateur (lancer) ............................. son dernier film. Le film (finir) ............................. à quelle heure? Nous (adorer) ............................. les films comiques. Ils (raconter) ............................. des histoires très amusantes. On (vendre) ............................. énormément de places. 4 Translate the following sentences into French. I am selling a DVD. The actor is finishing the film. The men act well. Are you selling the ticket? We are finishing work at six. The women are acting well too! 5 Fill in the correct forms of these irregular verbs. je /j’

tu

il / elle

nous

vous

ils / elles

aller avoir être boire devoir pouvoir vouloir dire faire (i)

6 Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in brackets. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Chaque Français (aller) ............................. en moyenne trois fois au cinéma par an. Le réalisateur (avoir) ............................. beaucoup de mal à financer son dernier film. Le film (être) ............................. un grand succès. Nous (boire) ............................. toujours un coca au cinéma. Ils (devoir) ............................. réserver en avance les billets pour la séance. On (pouvoir) ............................. se donner rendez-vous devant le cinéma. Ils (vouloir) ............................. rester à la maison pour regarder le film. Que (dire) .............................. -vous du film? Les Français (faire) ............................. beaucoup pour encourager les gens à aller au cinéma.

7 Translate the following sentences into French. 10. Are we going to the cinema tonight? 11. The boys have lots of DVDs. 12. Special effects are better on a big screen. 13. What are you drinking? 14. They are saying that the film is good.

Irregular verbs in the present and perfect tense You have already met several irregular verbs in the present tense: Je ne suis pas vraiment la mode (suis from suivre, to follow) Je suis une vraie fan de la mode (suis from être, to be). You need to know by heart common irregular verbs in the present tense and also their past participle so that you can use the perfect tense.

1 Fill in the correct present tense forms. je

tu

il / elle

nous

vous

ils / elles

suis

suivre (to follow)

mets

mettre (to put on)

fait

faire (to do / make)

nous sentons

se sentir (to feel)

êtes

être (to be)

veulent

vouloir (to want) pouvez

pouvoir (to be able to) devons

devoir (to have to) a

avoir (to have) vas

aller (to go)

2 Fill in the correct perfect tense forms. suivre

j’ai suivi

pouvoir

j’ai pu

mettre

tu

devoir

il

faire

il

avoir

nous

se sentir

nous

aller

je

être

je

vouloir

elle

3 Translate the following sentences. 1 I follow fashion. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 I put on smart clothes for work but I prefer jeans and a T-shirt at the weekend. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 I do lots of window shopping. (use the verb faire) ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 I feel good when I dress in black. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 I want to buy some shoes this weekend. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Can you lend me your pullover? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 I must buy some shoes. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 I have lots of clothes. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9 I go to town regularly to buy accessories. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10 He is happy with his new clothes. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Rewrite these sentences in the perfect tense. 15. Last year, I followed fashion ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 16. We put on our old jeans and went to the festival ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 17. My mother went shopping last Saturday …………………………………………………………………………………………… 18. When I saw my new dress I felt happy ………………………………………………………………………………………… 19. Yesterday I wanted to buy a belt ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 20. He was able to buy the jeans ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 21. I had to buy a new jacket …………………………………………………………………………………………

22. Yesterday I forgot to bring my T-shirt for PE ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23. I went to town last weekend …………………………………………………………………………………………………

The perfect tense – le passé composé Use the perfect tense (le passé composé) to express a completed action in the past, as in English ‘I played’ or ‘I’ve played’ or ‘did you play?’ ‘I played’ or ‘I’ve played’ or ‘did you play?’

Formation To form the perfect tense you need two parts: 1 an auxiliary verb – the present tense of avoir or être. Remember, most verbs take avoir, but a few common verbs of movement (aller, sortir and others, as listed on page 113) and all reflexive verbs take être. jouer = to play, takes avoir

j’ai joué = I have played / I played

aller = to go, takes être

je suis allé(e) = I have gone / I went

2 a past participle – for regular verbs, follow these patterns: verbs ending in:

-er

-ir

-re

pp ends in:

-é

-i

-u

example:

trouver: trouvé

finir: fini

vendre: vendu

Some past participles are irregular – see page 114 of the Student’s Book for a list. Remember that with être verbs, the past participle needs to agree with the subject: add -e for feminine, -s for masculine plural, -es for feminine plural.

1 Write the correct person of the auxiliary verb and the correct form of the past participle for each verb. danser

j’ai dansé

avoir

elle

finir

tu

devoir

j’

vendre

il

faire

tu

aller

je suis allé(e)

dire

il

boire

ils

voir

elle

sortir

nous

lire

vous

The imperfect tense – l’imparfait

Use the imperfect tense for: 1 general descriptions of how things were: ‘she was sad’, ‘it was cold’ – elle était triste, il faisait froid 2 a continuous or interrupted action in the past: ‘I was watching TV when…’ – je regardais... 3 a habitual or repeated action in the past: ‘I used to play netball’ – je jouais...

)i Formation To form the imperfect tense, take the nous part of that verb in the present tense, remove the -ons ending to get the imperfect stem, and add these endings: je jouais

tu jouais

il / elle / on jouait

nous jouions

vous jouiez

ils /elles jouaient

The only exception to this is être where the stem is ét- but the same endings are used: C’était bien. = It was good.

3 Find the correct stem for the imperfect tense then add the endings for each person. Translate the imperfect tense verbs formed. infinitive

the nous part of the verb in the present tense

take away the nous ending to form the imperfect

English translation

danser

nous dansons

nous dansons  dans je dansais

I was dancing or

finir

il

vendre

nous

aller

j’

avoir

nous

devoir

nous

pouvoir

je

faire

je

I used to dance

The perfect tense: agreement of past participle •

It is important to be completely confident about using the perfect tense (see pages 113–114 of the Student’s Book to check the patterns). One common mistake is to use the wrong past participle. Here are some key irregular past participles: J’ai fait un stage. (from faire) J’en suis devenue accro (from devenir) J’ai appris à jouer… (from apprendre) On a eu quatre séances. (from avoir) Les spectateurs ont été enthousiastes. (from être)

•

Remember also the perfect tense of reflexive verbs: use être and make the past participle agree with the subject. Je me suis baigné au lac… (Christophe, male) Je me suis très bien amusé… (Arnaud, male) Je me suis habillée en clown… (Catherine, female)

•

Normally, past participles agree with the subject only when être is the auxiliary, not avoir. However there are exceptions! Look at this sentence: J’ai fabriqué une petite tasse que j’ai ramenée à la maison.

In this case, the past partciple has to agree with une petite tasse, which is a direct object that comes before the verb.

Agreement of the preceding direct object: There are three occasions when you may meet this agreement of the past participle: 1) When you have que before the verb in the perfect tense and the que replaces a feminine singular or masculine / feminine plural object of the verb: Où sont les magazines que j’ai lus hier? 2) When there is a direct object pronoun in front of the perfect tense (l’ standing for la or les but not lui or leur, which are indirect object pronouns): Ta mère? Je l’ai vue ce matin. Les cigarettes? Je les ai mises à la poubelle. 3) When the sentence is a question using either combien, quelle, quels or quelles and refers to a feminine singular or a masculine / feminine plural: Quelle voiture a-t-il choisie? Combien de pommes as-tu achetées?

1

Fill in the blanks with the correct past participle of each verb.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Elle a (prendre) ………………………… le bus pour aller à la gare. Tu as (voir) ………………………… le match hier soir? Qui a (faire) ………………………… un pique-nique? On a (avoir) ………………………… une visite. Les deux garçons ont (finir) ………………………… de faire leurs bagages. Mon père a (mettre) ………………………… les valises dans le coffre de la voiture.

7 Vous avez (suivre) ………………………… le chien? 8 Lens a (vaincre) ………………………… Bordeaux dans la finale de la coupe. 9 J’ai (être) ………………………… surprise de vous voir avec lui. 10 Nous avons (écrire) ………………………… une lettre au journal. 2 Fill in the blanks with the correct perfect tense of each verb. Don’t forget to include the auxiliary verb avoir or être each time! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Nicolas Sarkozy (naître) ………………………… en 1955. Ma mère (mourir) ………………………… il y a trois ans. Chantal (sortir) ………………………… avec mon ami. Nous nous (amuser) ………………………… dans le jardin. Je me (reposer) ………………………… dans le jardin. Elles se (coucher) ………………………… de bonne heure. Marie (entendre) ………………………… la voix de son père. Alexandre m’ (dire) ………………………… de l’appeler. Je (venir) ………………………… trop tard. Elle (devoir) ………………………… faire ses excuses?

3 Translate the following sentences into French, making the correct agreements where necessary. Exemples: Voilà la fille que j’ai vue en ville. Ce sont les trois livres que j’ai empruntés à la bibliothèque. Tu as écouté cette chanson? Je l’ai écoutée hier.

1 It’s the girl that I saw at the cinema. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 Have you seen my wallet? I left it in the restaurant. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Where are the CDs which I bought yesterday? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 How many birds did you see? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 Did you receive the letter I wrote? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 These are the boys I met on holiday. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7 Which house did you prefer? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 8 The flowers? I gave them to my mother. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Where’s the newspaper? I haven’t read it. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10 Have you seen my mobile? I’ve lost it. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………

1 Find the three perfect tense and five imperfect tense verbs in the following extract. J’ai fait la connaissance d’une bande de jeunes marrants qui se soûlaient, se droguaient et volaient des voitures juste pour rire! Je ne voulais vraiment pas faire tout cela mais j’avais besoin de contact, de me défouler un peu. Amélie en a été scandalisée! Elle a tout essayé pour me détourner de la bande.

2 Fill in the blanks with the correct tense (perfect or imperfect) of the verbs in brackets. 1 Charlotte ne sait pas pourquoi elle (faire) ………………………… la connaissance de la bande. 2 À ce moment-là elle ne (vouloir) ………………………… pas vraiment faire cela. 3 Amélie (refuser) ………………………… d’accepter l’explication de Charlotte quand elle (dire) ………………………… qu’elle (continuer) ………………………… à faire cela juste pour rire et que cela ne (faire) ………………………… de mal à personne. 4 Quand Charlotte (rompre) ………………………… avec Amélie, Amélie en (être) ………………………… triste.

3 Translate into French. 2 Even at the age of five we were best friends. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 When I got to know her she was shy and very sensitive. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 She regretted our antisocial behaviour when we stole a car. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 Her friends used to get drunk and take drugs. …………………………………………………………………………………………………

The future tense (revisited) For the immediate future tense, use the present tense of aller and an infinitive to say what someone is going to do: On va finir par divorcer. We’re going to end up getting divorced. For the simple future tense, i.e. to say ‘I will do’, you need the stem + endings.

Formation Remember how to find the stem for the simple future of regular verbs: -er and -ir verbs = whole infinitive + endings (see below); -re verbs = drop the final -e, thus: chercher je chercher-

finir  je finir-

prendre  je prendr-

• The present tense of the verb avoir (minus the av- for nous and vous) provides the endings: je -ai, tu -as, il /elle / on -a, nous -ons, vous -ez, ils / elles -ont: chercher je chercherai

nous chercherons

tu chercheras

vous chercherez

il / elle / on cherchera

ils / elles chercheront

• Irregulars: learn by heart the irregular stems below and add the above endings:

aller

ir-

j’irai

avoir

aur-

j’aurai

devoir

devr-

je devrai

être

ser-

je serai

faire

fer-

je ferai

pouvoir

pourr-

je pourrai

tenir

tiendr-

je tiendrai

venir

viendr-

je viendrai

voir

verr-

je verrai

1 Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the simple future tense of the verbs brackets. 6 Je (rester) ………………………… célibataire et (finir) ………………………… ma vie en tant que célibataire. 7 On (avoir) ………………………… toujours la possibilité de prendre ses propres décisions. 8 Ils ne (demander) ………………………… jamais aux célibataires d’abandonner leur mode de vie. 9 Tu ne (pouvoir) ………………………… pas accepter certaines responsabilités. 10 Il ne (vouloir) ………………………… pas s’engager en vie de couple.

2 Translate the following sentences into French. 1 Who will save France? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 Single people will be afraid. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Will you pay attention to the statistics? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 We will have to help. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 Four out of 10 marriages will end in a split. ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6 I won’t be single all my life …………………………………………………………………………………………………

The near future tense The near future is much more common than the simple future in French. It is formed from the present tense of aller + infinitive: je vais

nous allons

+

accepter / choisir / prendre, etc.

tu vas

vous allez

il / elle / on va

ils / elles vont

Je vais choisir mon partenaire. I’m going to choose my partner.

3 Switch between the two types of future tense: fill in the blanks by changing the underlined verbs to the near future and bold verbs to the simple future. On a besoin de familles et d’enfants avec qui on pourra ................................... partager ses valeurs. Je crois que je vais me chercher ................................... une partenaire avant que ce ne soit trop tard. Les célibataires auront ................................... les mêmes droits que les mariés, qui ne vont rien avoir ................................... contre cette proposition. Je ne serai ................................... pas déprimé car je vais me trouver ................................... une partenaire. Spider Man ne se mariera pas ..................................., sinon il va trouver .............................. que le mariage peut ressembler à une toile d’araignée.

The conditional – le conditionnel (revisited) Meaning The conditional is used when people ask politely for services: Je voudrais le menu à 20 euros. Pourriez-vous m’apporter encore du pain? I would like the 20-euro menu. Could you bring me some more bread? It is called the conditional because it involves actions or circumstances that would happen, given certain conditions. Si j’étais père de famille, je respecterais mes enfants. If I were a father, I would respect my children. Mes enfants seraient en sécurité mais indépendants aussi. My children would be safe but independent as well. It’s also useful to say what ‘should’ or ‘ought to’ happen, using devoir: Mon père ne devrait pas se disputer avec ma mère. My father shouldn’t...

Formation )1 If you know the simple future already, formation of the conditional is straightforward: take the future stem and add the imperfect tense endings. )2 The future stem of regular verbs is usually the infinitive of the verb; in the case of -re verbs the -e is dropped before adding the future or imperfect endings. )3 Irregular future stems (aller, faire, avoir, être, venir, tenir, pouvoir, vouloir, savoir, devoir) need to be learned separately. (Refer to page 115 of the Student’s Book for a full list.) )4 Regular verbs and some of the more common irregular stems are included in the table below. infinitive

simple future

future stem

conditional

English

aimer

j’aimerai

j’aimer-

j’aimerais

I would like

choisir

tu choisiras

tu choisir-

tu choisirais

you would choose

comprendre

il comprendra

il comprendr-

il comprendrait

he would understand

aller

elle ira

elle ir-

elle irait

she would go

faire

nous ferons

nous fer-

nous ferions

we would do

avoir

vous aurez

vous aur-

vous auriez

you would have

être

ils seront

ils ser-

ils seraient

they would be

1 Rewrite the following sentences using the correct form of the conditional. J’ (aimer) ………………………… écouter l’opinion de mes enfants. On (pouvoir) ………………………… encourager tout le monde à discuter des problèmes. Nos enfants (être) ………………………… libres et indépendants. Vous (prendre) ………………………… toutes les décisions?