New
New
Year 8

How people do things: comparative adverbs

Learning outcomes

I can use adverbs to compare how things happen and know the difference between key adjectives and their adverbial forms.

I can recognise [um/un] as identical nasal sounds before a consonant and different oral sounds before a vowel.

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New
New
Year 8

How people do things: comparative adverbs

Learning outcomes

I can use adverbs to compare how things happen and know the difference between key adjectives and their adverbial forms.

I can recognise [um/un] as identical nasal sounds before a consonant and 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] are identical nasal sounds.
  2. When ‘um’ and ‘un’ come before a vowel the ‘m’ and ‘n’ are pronounced as two different oral sounds.
  3. Adverbs describe verbs, whereas adjectives describe nouns.
  4. 'Plus' or 'moins' go before adverbs to compare how things happen e.g. Inès arrive plus vite. Inès arrives more quickly.
  5. 'Better' is both adjective and adverb in English. In French, the adjective is 'meilleur(e)' and the adverb is 'mieux'.

Keywords

  • [um/un] - sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as the nasal sound in ‘parfum’

  • Adverb - word that describes a verb or an adjective

  • Adjective - word that gives information about a noun

Common misconception

There is only one word for 'better' in French: 'meilleur'.

The adjective 'meilleur(e)' means 'better' in French and describes a noun, e.g. Il a un meilleur ordinateur (He has a better computer). To describe an action as 'better' we use the adverb 'mieux', e.g. Il chante mieux (He sings better).


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

Students often struggle with the difference between 'meilleur(e)' and 'mieux'. Which is which? It is worth emphasising that 'meilleur(e)' has two forms (m/f) which can only be the case for an adjective, whereas 'mieux' does not change as it is generally used to describe verbs.
Teacher tip

Equipment

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 words.
Correct Answer:puisque,as, because

as, because

Correct Answer:puis,then

then

Correct Answer:par,by

by

Correct Answer:d’abord,first of all

first of all

Correct Answer:alors,so, well, then

so, well, then

Q2.
Translate; Ce cahier est plus grand.
Correct Answer: This exercise book is bigger.
Q3.
Match the sentences.
Correct Answer:Ma note est bonne.,My mark is good.

My mark is good.

Correct Answer:Ma note est meilleure.,My mark is better.

My mark is better.

Correct Answer:Ma note est mauvaise.,My mark is bad.

My mark is bad.

Correct Answer:Ma note est pire.,My mark is worse.

My mark is worse.

Q4.
Put the festivals in chronological order, starting with New Year's Eve.
1 - Le réveillon
2 - Le jour de l'an
3 - Pâques
4 - Noël
Q5.
Fill in the gap to convery that the cat is smaller. Ce chat est grand.
Correct Answer: moins
Q6.
Find the odd one out.
Correct answer: que
plus
moins
meilleur

5 Questions

Q1.
Which of these words are adverbs?
Correct answer: lentement
Correct answer: mieux
Correct answer: mal
Correct answer: facilement
facile
Q2.
Translate the sentence using the words below; Alain learns quickly, but Sam learns more quickly.
1 - Alain
2 - apprend
3 - vite
4 - mais Sam
5 - apprend
6 - plus
7 - vite
Q3.
The adjective meilleur - better, is used to describe which type of word?
Correct answer: nouns
verbs
conjunctions
prepositions
Q4.
Put the words in order to translate this sentence. Sophie draws well but Amir draws better.
1 - Sophie
2 - dessine
3 - bien
4 - mais
5 - Amir
6 - dessine
7 - mieux
Q5.
Say these words aloud. Which is the odd one out?
humble
parfum
lundi
Correct answer: humour
un

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