New
New
Year 8

How people do things: comparative adjectives and adverbs

Learning outcomes

I can use adjectives to compare people and things and adverbs to compare how people do things.

I can recognise that [um] and [un] are identical nasal sounds before a consonant or at the end of a word, but are different oral sounds before a vowel.

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New
New
Year 8

How people do things: comparative adjectives and adverbs

Learning outcomes

I can use adjectives to compare people and things and adverbs to compare how people do things.

I can recognise that [um] and [un] are identical nasal sounds before a consonant or at the end of a word, but are different oral sounds before a vowel.

Link copied to clipboard

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Before a consonant or at the end of a word the SSCs [um/un] sound the same; they are both nasal sounds.
  2. When ‘um’ or ‘un’ come before a vowel the ‘m’ and ‘n’ are pronounced and the two oral sounds are like [u] + 'm' or 'n'.
  3. The three ways to compare two nouns using a comparative adjective are 'plus...que', 'moins...que' and 'aussi... que'.
  4. The adjective goes in the middle of the comparative phrase; for example, 'Le village est plus grand que la ville'.
  5. In the same way, we can compare how people do things using adverbs in the middle e.g. Léa travaille plus vite qu'Amir.

Keywords

  • [u] - sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as the [u] in 'tu'

  • [um/un] - sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as the [um/un] in 'parfum'; it is a nasal sound

  • Adjective - word that gives information about a noun

  • Adverb - word that describes a verb or an adjective

Common misconception

I only use adjectives with comparative structures like 'plus ... que'.

Adjectives help us to compare two nouns with comparative structures such as 'plus ... que'. For example, 'Emily est plus petite que Lucy'. We can use adverbs in the same way to compare how people do things. For example, 'Emily va plus vite que Lucy'.


To help you plan your year 8 french lesson on: How people do things: comparative adjectives and adverbs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Forming 'human sentences' is one way for pupils to practise correct word order. You put English sentences on the board and hand out A4 sheets. Pupils write one French word in the sentence on each. You then give them 10 seconds to arrange themselves at the front in the right order.
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Licence

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).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the parts of the verb 'jouer' - to play.
Correct Answer:Je,joue

joue

Correct Answer:Tu,joues

joues

Correct Answer:Nous,jouons

jouons

Correct Answer:Vous,jouez

jouez

Correct Answer:Ils/elles,jouent

jouent

Q2.
Fill in the missing word. Je joue guitare
du
Correct answer: de la
des
au
auz
Q3.
Put the words in the correct order to make the following sentence; we play football on Wednesdays. Start with 'we'.
1 - Nous
2 - jouons
3 - au
4 - foot
5 - le
6 - mercredi
Q4.
Put the words in the correct order to translate the sentence, 'The boy is smaller than the girl'.
1 - Le garçon
2 - est
3 - plus
4 - petit
5 - que
6 - la fille
Q5.
What is the feminine form of the word 'facile'?
Correct Answer: facile
Q6.
Which is the odd one out?
facile
difficile
Correct answer: intelligente
mince

6 Questions

Q1.
Which is the odd one out in terms of how the word sounds?
parfum
un
Correct answer: punir
emprunter
quelqu'un
Q2.
Which sentence means, 'The village is as big as the town'?
Le village est moins grand que la ville.
Le village est plus grand que la ville.
Correct answer: Le village est aussi grand que la ville.
Q3.
Match the prepositions.
Correct Answer:(à) gauche,(on the) left

(on the) left

Correct Answer:(à) droite,(on the) right

(on the) right

Correct Answer:loin (de),far (from)

far (from)

Correct Answer:près (de),near to

near to

Correct Answer:à côté (de),next to

next to

Q4.
Translate using the English words to help you. 'Antoine dort moins souvent que Sulyman'.
1 - Antoine
2 - sleeps
3 - less
4 - often
5 - than
6 - Sulyman
Q5.
Translate; 'plus lentement que'
Correct Answer: more slowly than, slower than
Q6.
Add the missing word. Noura works as fast as Samir. Noura travaille aussi que Samir.
Correct Answer: vite

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