GCSE French: Key Vocabulary and Everyday Phrases Guide

Greetings and introductions

Use bonjour for hello and au revoir for goodbye. To introduce yourself, say je m'appelle... ("my name is...") and j'ai ... ans ("I am ... years old").

Talking about family

Learn la mère (mother), le père (father), le frère (brother) and la sœur (sister). Use j'ai ("I have") to describe siblings and pets, e.g. j'ai un chien ("I have a dog").

School and free time

Key phrases include j'aime ("I like"), je préfère ("I prefer") and je déteste ("I hate"), always followed by a noun or an infinitive verb, e.g. j'aime lire ("I like reading").

Giving opinions

Give reasons using parce que ("because"), and boost or soften opinions with très ("very"), un peu ("a little") or vraiment ("really") — this range of language is rewarded highly in speaking and writing assessments.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the correct article (le/la/les) in front of nouns.
• Translating word-for-word from English instead of learning the French phrase as a whole, e.g. j'ai faim not "je suis faim".
• Confusing similar-looking words, such as la fille (daughter/girl) and le fils (son).