French Honours

ninebeanrows

What should i be looking over this weekend for French?

I have always struggled to study for French, i simply don't know what to do. I write out a few universal sayings and leave it at that.

Is it as simple as going over tenses and perfecting, learning a few sayings and hoping for some luck?

I suck at French.

-blondie-

Its really hard to try and predict what type of topic questions might come up! So I'd say you're safdest learning off opening paragraph phrases, agreement/disagrement phrases and closing pharagraph phrases. At a revision course we were advised to try and have an opening paragraph, 2/3 points and a closing paragraph. This way you really don't need alot of specific vocabulary!

Bluefox21

make sure you learn the formal letter its tipped and if you get the format right you get a fair few marks (not sure exactly how many) and make sure you know the grammer terms always two questions on them

radioactiveman

Hi
you could try looking over some useful phrases for the formal letters and postcards (if they're still on the paper - I did it in 97:). If you have a good starting line it can help you alot.
Like if you're saying thanks for your letter - merci de votre lettre que j'ai recue (with the e!), or a good formal opening: je me permets de vous contacter au sujet de ..<whatever it is you're writing to them about> - basically "I decided to write to you about x.. "
A handy phrase is also "passer devant" which is used in the sense of 'I passed your house today' e.g. Je suis passe devant chez vous quand je suis alle en centre ville ce matin. Mais je n'ai pas pense a vous rendre visite - it's handy if you're leaving somebody a note because you missed them earlier on etc etc.

melsman

loads of phrases and grammatical structures such as verbs of perception the "depuis construction" and "venir de" construction and the regular use of the subjontive tense get the high grades. dont waste time learnin special topics like racism or condition of women when all-purpose phrases will cover you

Bluefox21

radioactiveman wrote:

Hi
you could try looking over some useful phrases for the formal letters and postcards (if they're still on the paper - I did it in 97:). If you have a good starting line it can help you alot.
Like if you're saying thanks for your letter - merci de votre lettre que j'ai recue (with the e!), etc.

why an e its done with avoir....

SamHamilton

because lettre is feminine.

colm-ccfc84

Bluefox21 wrote:

why an e its done with avoir....

Because it is before the verb and it is feminine.

radioactiveman

Hi - when you write the phrase 'que j'ai fait', 'que j'ai recu' - the something that I did, the something that I received, the verb part (recu) has to agree with the noun - the something:) Lettre is feminine here so you have to add an e on to the verb part so it will agree (recue).
It's the same with 'que j'ai fait' - for example, it's not 'la chose que j'ai fait' (the thing I did), it's 'la chose que j'ai faite'.

For the letters and postcards, it's easiest just to remember it like this. It's only in the past I think (only with the past participle).

The other agreement you might be thinking about is the agreement you get when you have a verb conjugated with 'etre' in the past.
So 'je suis alle', 'je suis sorti', will change to 'je suis allee', 'je suis sortie' if you're a girl. 'Elle est allee', 'Elle est sortie' is the same.

But (!) the thing to remember is that if you just want to say 'He got', 'She got' - it will be 'Il a recu', 'Elle a recu'. No agreement. Because straightforward 'he or she did something in the past' doesn't need an agreement. Avoir doesn't need the agreement like this. But the minute you say 'la lettre qu'il a recu', you have to put on an e so that the past participle will agree with the noun.

colm-ccfc84

In short: the preceeding direct object!

radioactiveman

exactly:D

Bluefox21

thanks didn't know that and im going for the A lol I can speak fluently after a long exchange but I can't write it at all

JC 2K3

This is why I hate French as a subject.

Verbs and sentence structure are grand. They're logical and easy to learn.

However, the sheer amount of mind numbing vocab learning required for an A puts me off putting an effort in.

ZorbaTehZ

Bluefox21 wrote:

make sure you learn the formal letter its tipped and if you get the format right you get a fair few marks (not sure exactly how many) and make sure you know the grammer terms always two questions on them

6 marks for the structure in the formal letter, as is in a normal letter:
-Date
-Greeting
-Sign Off

Same 6 marks go for the structure in a fax, but afaik there are no marks for the structure for an e-mail.

Verbs terms:
PARTICIPE PASSE
PARTICIPE PRESENT
VERBE PRONOMINAL
PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT
PASSIF

There are others, but those are the ones that mostly get students.

The highest scoring students in french, have *idiomatic french* ie lots of phrases/common sayings. So as has been said above, learn lots of them.

cossyx

Im learning ALOT of phrases...Whats worrying me though is not being able to understand what exactly they're asking!!:eek:

ZorbaTehZ

JC 2K3 wrote:

However, the sheer amount of mind numbing vocab learning required for an A puts me off putting an effort in.

According to who?
I got an A1 in my mocks and I don't put a "mind numbing" effort into vocab learning or for that matter even a strenuous one, and neither does any one else in my class.
When I see a new word in a text or what ever, I get it in the dictionary and then add it to the back of my copy. I go over it now and again but thats about it.

JC 2K3

Maybe it's just me?

My downfall in French is vocab.

Also, practicing reading comprehensions and doing the excercises in the book I find boring, and that's where you pick up most of your vocab.

And it's a subject where you can't cram, consistacy is essential. I'm someone who will go for long periods not studying and then put a week or two of solid work in. For this to work in French it'd mean learning off lists of vocab, which would be a mind numbing effort.

So essentially, for me to get an A in French working the way I do, it'd require a mind numbing effort. I accept it's not the same for everyone though.

ZorbaTehZ

Learning "lists of vocab" will always be secondary to idioms/phrases, verb conjugation, grammar etc. I mean what use is a good vocab if you can't form a sentence? As for the comprehensions, with even a basic vocab someone would be able to understand most of it.

Bluefox21

I guess im lucky the exchange really helped whats the structure for the fax though ( I stopped going to my class because my teacher couldn't speak the language) lol I got a B in the mocks but kinda regret not putting in more work now im just gonna learn off a few phrases and hope for the best!

ZorbaTehZ

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

Verbs terms:
PARTICIPE PASSE
PARTICIPE PRESENT
VERBE PRONOMINAL
PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT
PASSIF

Add the past subjunctive to that list. It's never come up, but technically it could. Way to spot it is that the third person singular has a circumflex on the last vowel in the word 99% of the time.

JC 2K3

ZorbaTehZ wrote:

Learning "lists of vocab" will always be secondary to idioms/phrases, verb conjugation, grammar etc. I mean what use is a good vocab if you can't form a sentence? As for the comprehensions, with even a basic vocab someone would be able to understand most of it.

What good is being able to form a sentence if you've no vocab to use?

And sometimes in a comprehension, not understanding one word can throw you and lose you marks.

-blondie-

The listening vomprehensin is the worst! I can never get over a B when doing it in calss-and that was prob only once i managed to get the B!

Not going to be fun!