French for groups: gender agreement and polite conditional requests

What French asks of an English speaker

Try two questions from the course

Both are taken unchanged from the French lessons, with the explanation learners see after answering.

What each level covers

1. A1 Read French form labels and notices, write a name with a reflexive verb, and match a nationality adjective to the writer’s gender.

   8 skills at A1

   • Recognize familiar words and basic phrases in short written texts
   • Understand basic spoken phrases when delivered slowly and clearly
   • Complete simple forms with personal information
   • Write very short simple personal messages
   • Understand simple written instructions supported by context
   • Recognize basic information in signs, notices, and schedules
   • Follow very simple spoken announcements
   • Exchange basic information in simple written interactions

2. A2 Choose familiar or formal pronouns in French requests, use verb-pronoun inversion for a Saturday table booking, and write a delay apology with the future tense.

   8 skills at A2

   • Understand short simple personal messages
   • Follow basic spoken information about everyday matters
   • Read simple public information and service texts
   • Write short everyday messages for practical purposes
   • Describe routine matters in simple connected writing
   • Handle simple written transactions
   • Understand simple directions and instructions
   • Extract key details from short factual texts

3. B1 Follow Julien’s choice of a more expensive train to arrive an hour earlier for an interview, and use the polite French conditional with subject inversion when requesting a next step in routine email.

   8 skills at B1

   • Understand the main points of clear texts on familiar matters
   • Understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters
   • Write connected texts on familiar topics
   • Express opinions, plans, and experiences in writing
   • Manage routine written correspondence
   • Understand straightforward narratives and descriptions
   • Follow straightforward presentations and media on familiar topics
   • Summarize factual information from straightforward texts

4. B2 Frame a French objection as agreement followed by a qualification, ask a focused clarification question, and use a concessive frame meaning admittedly … however to weigh an alternative without overstating the evidence.

   8 skills at B2

   • Read articles and reports that present arguments and viewpoints
   • Understand extended speech and presentations with clear structure
   • Write clear detailed texts on a range of subjects
   • Write reasoned arguments supporting a point of view
   • Participate effectively in written discussions
   • Understand specialized texts in familiar fields
   • Identify stance, tone, and implication in spoken discourse
   • Synthesize information from multiple written sources

5. C1 Open a formal request to an outside partner with the polite conditional and an inverted subject, switch to the familiar form of you when rewriting an administrative notice for a colleague, write a pool's reopening time in words on the twenty-four-hour clock, and agree to move a deadline to the fifteenth only on stated conditions.

   8 skills at C1

   • Understand long complex texts across a range of domains
   • Understand extended speech with implicit meaning and complex structure
   • Write well-structured detailed texts on complex subjects
   • Adapt style, register, and conventions to purpose and audience
   • Manage complex written interactions fluently and appropriately
   • Understand implicit meaning, nuance, and rhetorical effect in written texts
   • Take effective notes from complex spoken input
   • Evaluate and synthesize information from complex written sources

6. C2 Read a promise to think about it as a face-saving refusal, catch a reminder to turn off the lights that compares a house to a famously lit palace, keep a double-negative hedge such as not without risk intact when editing, and accept mediation in a dispute while expressly reserving every right.

   8 skills at C2

   • Understand virtually all forms of written language
   • Understand virtually all forms of spoken language
   • Produce polished, effective texts for demanding purposes
   • Compose nuanced persuasive arguments
   • Handle demanding written exchanges with precision and flexibility
   • Interpret subtle pragmatic and cultural references
   • Critically synthesize diverse written and spoken sources
   • Edit and transform texts while preserving nuance and effect