Starter quiz
- Which word describes the rise and fall of the voice in speaking?
- infinitive
- intonation ✓
- inversion
- liaison
- preposition
-
- What does the question word 'quoi' mean?
- what ✓
- when
- where
- which
- who
-
- What is the present tense verb ending for 'ils/elles'?
- -e
- -es
- -ons
- -ez
- -ent ✓
-
- Order the words to say: 'I'm listening to the radio and she is watching TV'.
- 1⇔j'
- 2⇔écoute
- 3⇔la radio
- 4⇔et
- 5⇔elle
- 6⇔regarde
- 7⇔la télé
- Write the French word for 'why'.
- 'pourquoi' ✓
- Add the missing word: 'There isn't a solution.' - 'Il n'y a pas de ______.'
- 'solution' ✓
Exit quiz
- What does the question word 'quel(le)' mean?
- how
- what
- where
- when
- which ✓
-
- Match the conjunctions in French and English.
- et⇔and ✓
- mais⇔but ✓
- quand⇔when ✓
- parce que⇔because ✓
- aussi⇔also ✓
- ou⇔or ✓
- Order the words to say: 'Normally, I don't arrive late.'
- 1⇔normalement
- 2⇔je
- 3⇔n'
- 4⇔arrive
- 5⇔pas
- 6⇔en
- 7⇔retard
- Order the words to say: 'The children are showing the answer to the teacher'.
- 1⇔les enfants
- 2⇔montrent
- 3⇔la réponse
- 4⇔à
- 5⇔la professeure
- Use intonation to ask: 'Do you like history?'
- 'Tu aimes l'histoire ?' ✓
- Use inversion and 'tu' as the subject to ask: 'When do you changes?'
- 'Quand arrives-tu ?' ✓
Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Change statements into questions in French with raised intonation; a question word at the end gets more information.
- More formal inversion yes/no questions swap subject and verb; question words go at the start of information questions.
- For negation meaning 'not', put ne … pas around the first verb in a sentence; ne shortens to n' before a vowel.
- To develop productive skills, keep a bank of vocabulary with words from texts, glossaries or the dictionary.
Common misconception
If you use inversion and add a question word, you don't need to change your intonation.
Even when using inversion and/or question words, still raise your voice at the end of a sentence in French when asking a question.
Keywords
Intonation - rise and fall of the voice in speaking
Inversion - when the subject pronoun and the verb switch place to form a question
Negation - two elements e.g. ne … pas around the main verb expressing negative meaning
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