Gender — French nouns have grammatical gender. Un frère means a brother and is masculine; une sœur means a sister and is feminine. A noun names a person, place, thing or idea. An article is a short word such as un or une used with a noun. Learn a noun with an article, including an accent where needed. Grammatical gender is a property of words and does not provide a reliable general rule about the identities of people.
Articles — Un and une mean a/an; des is a plural indefinite article. Le, la and les mean the. Before a vowel or silent h, le and la normally become l’: l’ami, l’histoire. The apostrophe hides the article’s written gender, so learn the full noun phrase separately.
Plural nouns — Most written nouns add s in the plural: un cousin → des cousins. Some differ: un animal → des animaux. Usually the plural s is silent, so the article and verb help convey number in speech. Do not add an English apostrophe to make a French plural.
Possessives — Mon, ma and mes mean my and agree with the possessed noun: mon frère, ma sœur, mes parents. They do not describe the owner’s gender. Before a feminine singular noun beginning with a vowel sound, use mon: mon amie. Ton/ta/tes mean your for one familiar person; son/sa/ses mean his or her. They follow similar patterns: ton frère, ta sœur, tes parents; son frère, sa sœur, ses parents. The possessed noun determines the form.The possessive follows the possessed noun: mon frère, ma sœur, mes parents; mon amie is the vowel-sound exception shown. Full-size diagram
Families and respect — Ma famille includes the people someone chooses to describe. Mes parents means my parents; ma mère means my mother; mon père means my father; mes grands-parents means my grandparents. Mon beau-père can mean my stepfather or father-in-law, and ma belle-mère my stepmother or mother-in-law: context tells you which. Do not assume everyone lives in the same family structure or has siblings; use a fictional example if preferred.
Adjectives and agreement
Agreement — An adjective describes a noun. Singular means one; plural means more than one. Many adjectives add e for a feminine singular noun and s for a plural: un petit chat (a small male cat), une petite chatte (a small female cat), des petits chats and des petites chattes. An adjective already ending in e often has the same masculine and feminine singular spelling, as in calme. Agreement follows the noun described, not the speaker.
Irregular descriptions — Some adjective forms change more: sportif → sportive, heureux → heureuse, beau → belle and vieux → vieille. Learn useful pairs with meanings: sportif/sportive = sporty; heureux/heureuse = happy; beau/belle = beautiful; vieux/vieille = old. For example, un garçon sportif is a sporty boy and une fille sportive is a sporty girl. Elle est heureuse and Ils sont heureux show that spelling and pronunciation changes are not always identical.
Adjective position — Many descriptive adjectives follow the noun: une personne généreuse. Common adjectives such as petit, grand, jeune and beau often come before: un petit frère. Position can sometimes change meaning, so check an unfamiliar expression rather than moving every English adjective mechanically.
Physical description — Il a les cheveux bruns et les yeux verts means he has brown hair and green eyes. Cheveux and yeux are plural nouns, so the adjectives are plural. Elle porte des lunettes means she wears glasses. Describe people courteously without turning appearance into a judgement about worth.
Personality — Ma sœur est drôle et généreuse, mais parfois impatiente means my sister is funny and generous, but sometimes impatient. Et adds information; mais introduces contrast. Qualify a description with assez, très or un peu instead of presenting a single label as a complete account of someone.
Negatives and relationships
Forming a negative — Place ne before a conjugated verb, a form chosen to match its subject and time (for example suis in je suis) and pas after it: je ne suis pas timide. Before a vowel, ne becomes n’: je n’ai pas de frère. In everyday speech ne is often omitted, but include the full form in careful writing and understand both when listening.
De after negatives — With an ordinary negative expressing absence, un, une and des usually become de/d’: j’ai un chien → je n’ai pas de chien. After être the article normally remains: ce n’est pas un chat. Do not turn every article in every negative sentence into de.
Other negatives — Je ne vois jamais mon cousin means I never see my cousin. Je n’ai plus de vélo means I no longer have a bicycle. Je ne vois personne means I see nobody. Learn jamais, plus and personne in full examples; their meaning differs from simply not.
Getting on — Je m’entends bien avec ma sœur means I get on well with my sister. Nous nous disputons parfois means we sometimes argue. A reflexive pronoun is a short word linked back to the subject, often like myself or yourself in English. French also uses these pronouns in expressions such as getting on with someone, even when English does not. Reflexive pronouns change with the subject: je me, tu te, il/elle se, nous nous, vous vous, ils/elles se.
Building descriptions
Using reasons — J’aime mon ami parce qu’il est fidèle means I like my friend because he is loyal. Parce que introduces a reason and becomes parce qu’ before a vowel. A reason should fit the opinion; adding parce que alone does not create a supported explanation.
Relative clauses — C’est une amie qui aime le sport means she is a friend who likes sport. Qui acts as the subject of aime. C’est le livre que j’aime means This is the book that I like. Here je (I) is the subject doing the liking; le livre (the book) is the object receiving that action. Que links back to that object. These clauses connect ideas without repeating the same noun in separate sentences.
Comparison — Ma sœur est plus grande que moi means my sister is taller than me. Aussi … que means as … as; moins … que means less … than. Bon has the irregular comparative meilleur; avoid plus bon when you mean better in this pattern.
Reading a profile — Original practice text: Voici Inès, ma cousine. Elle a quatorze ans. Elle est assez réservée, mais elle est très drôle avec ses amis. Identify the relationship, age and contrast. Translate réservée here as reserved or quiet, not booked; context selects the meaning.
Writing and checking — Plan a description with identity, relationships, appearance or character and a reasoned view. Check articles, adjective agreement and the verb after every subject. Je suis and j’ai serve different purposes; use Il a les yeux bleus, not Il est les yeux bleus.
Test yourself
50 questions · Random sets of 10. These quick checks support revision; practise longer explanations and justified judgements too.
Mind map
Use the branches to recall the ideas and explain their connections. Check the revision notes for the full detail.
KS3FR2 · 1
View KS3FR2 · 1 mind mapOpen the full-size map to zoom. Use the printable view for A4 landscape or enlarge to A3.
Mr Kidman's Classroom
