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Year 7

Understand what others do: -er verbs 3rd persons singular and plural

Learning outcomes

I can use 'il/elle' and 'ils/elles' with a range of -er verbs to say what others do.

I can recognise and pronounce the SSC [a].

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New

Year 7

Understand what others do: -er verbs 3rd persons singular and plural

Learning outcomes

I can use 'il/elle' and 'ils/elles' with a range of -er verbs to say what others do.

I can recognise and pronounce the SSC [a].

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Share activities with pupils

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Revisiting the sound [a].

7 clips

Learning vocabulary for school activities.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

The sound symbol correspondence [a] is very common in French and sounds like the 'a' in 'animal'.
To say 'he/she' + -er verb in French, the verb ending is -e, which is an SFe and so is silent.
To say 'they' + -er verb, the ending is -ent which is also silent. We call this the third person plural verb form.
'Ils' means 'they' when referring to a group of boys or a mixed gender group.
'Elles' mean 'they' when referring to a group of girls. The final 's' of 'ils/elles' is a SFC.

Keywords

[a] - Sounds like the 'a' in 'animal'.
Ils - The subject pronoun for 'they' in French, referring to a group of boys or mixed gender.
Elles - The subject pronoun for 'they' in French, referring to a group of girls.

Common misconception

The -ent ending of the 3rd person plural of the verb is pronounced.

The -ent ending of the 3rd person plural of the verb is not pronounced. It is therefore difficult to tell the difference between the 'il/elle' form and the 'ils/elles' form of verbs when spoken.

There is lots of verb formation practise in this lesson so mini whiteboards and pens will be really useful.

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on

Open Government Licence version 3.0

except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.

Which of the following are verbs?

le déjeuner

Correct answer: préparer

dehors

nous

Correct answer: manger

Q2.

Match the French subject pronouns to the English.

Correct Answer:je/j',I

Correct Answer:tu,you

you

Correct Answer:il,he

Correct Answer:elle,she

she

Correct Answer:nous,we

Q3.

Which subject pronoun refers to the 1st person singular?

Correct answer: je/j'

elle

nous

Q4.

Which subject pronoun refers to the 1st person plural?

je/j'

elle

Correct answer: nous

Q5.

Which verbs are in their 1st person plural form?

Correct answer: regardons

Correct answer: travaillons

marche

mange

Correct answer: écoutons

Q6.

Match the French to the English.

Correct Answer:Il mange dehors.,He eats outside.

He eats outside.

Correct Answer:Elle travaille dehors.,She works outside.

She works outside.

Correct Answer:Nous marchons à l'école.,We walk to school.

We walk to school.

Correct Answer:Nous aimons l'école.,We like the school.

We like the school.

Correct Answer:Il prépare le déjeuner.,He prepares lunch.

He prepares lunch.

Correct Answer:Nous mangeons le déjeuner.,We eat lunch.

We eat lunch.

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6 Questions

Q1.

Read the following sentence in French. How many times do you hear [a]? 'L'animal est malade, il est sur la table.'

twice

three times

four times

five times

Correct answer: six times

Q2.

Which words are cognates or near-cognates?

Correct answer: la radio

Correct answer: l'histoire

le déjeuner

dehors

Correct answer: le fruit

Q3.

Match the English to the French verbs.

Correct Answer:to look, looking,regarder

regarder

Correct Answer:to sing, singing,chanter

chanter

Correct Answer:to play, playing,jouer

jouer

Correct Answer:to find, finding,trouver

trouver

Correct Answer:to prepare, preparing,préparer

préparer

Correct Answer:to listen, listening,écouter

écouter

Q4.

Which subject pronouns indicate that the verb which follows is in its 3rd person plural form?

elle

nous

Correct answer: ils

Correct answer: elles

Q5.

Which of these verbs are in their 3rd person plural form?

Correct answer: donnent

trouve

Correct answer: écoutent

Correct answer: regardent

joue

Q6.

Match the English to the French.

Correct Answer:He looks for a solution.,Il cherche une solution.

Il cherche une solution.

Correct Answer:They (m) look for a solution.,Ils cherchent une solution.

Ils cherchent une solution.

Correct Answer:They (f) wear a uniform.,Elles portent un uniforme.

Elles portent un uniforme.

Correct Answer:She (f) wears a uniform.,Elle porte un uniforme.

Elle porte un uniforme.

Correct Answer:She finds that interesting.,Elle trouve ça intéressant.

Elle trouve ça intéressant.

Correct Answer:They (mf) find that interesting.,Ils trouvent ça intéressant.

Ils trouvent ça intéressant.

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