icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

Describe a person or thing: être 1st and 3rd persons singular

Learning outcomes

I can say what 'I am' and 'she, he is' using some new and familiar adjectives.

I can recognise, write and pronounce [i].

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

Describe a person or thing: être 1st and 3rd persons singular

Learning outcomes

I can say what 'I am' and 'she, he is' using some new and familiar adjectives.

I can recognise, write and pronounce [i].

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. [i] sounds like midi.
  2. être means 'to be, being', je suis means 'I am', il est means 'he is' and elle est means 'she is'.
  3. Je means 'I', il means 'he' and elle means 'she'. They are pronouns.
  4. Cognates are words which share most of the same letters in two languages (e.g. English and French).

Keywords

  • [i] - as pronounced in midi

  • Cognate - words with the same meaning and same or similar spelling in English and French

  • Conjunction - a word that links two ideas like 'and' or 'but'

Common misconception

'Elle' meaning she is pronounced with an [i] sound at the start.

'Elle' is pronounced with a hard e sound like in egg.

Using mimes and props to support the introduction of the new adjectives on slide 15 is a good way to help pupils build connections between sound, spelling and meaning. Mimes are ideal for méchant, calme and triste, while props could work well for anglais, français and intelligent.
speech-bubble
Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

Mini whiteboard and pen per pupil. Prompts (as in teacher tip) if desired.

copyright

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

Loading...

Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.

6 Questions

Q1.
Which words have a Silent Final Consonant (SFC)?
malade
Correct answer: grand
française
Correct answer: anglais
Correct answer: rat
Q2.
Which English word matches each French word?
Correct Answer:bonjour,hello
tick

hello

Correct Answer:écrire,to write, writing
tick

to write, writing

Correct Answer:être,to be, being
tick

to be, being

Correct Answer:écouter,to listen, listening
tick

to listen, listening

Correct Answer:au revoir,goodbye
tick

goodbye

Correct Answer:et,and
tick

and

Q3.
Which words can be used to describe a female?
anglais
Correct answer: française
Correct answer: grande
petit
grand
Q4.
Which word is missing from this sentence? suis anglais.
Correct Answer: Je, je, JE
Q5.
Which word is missing from this sentence? Tu français.
Correct Answer: es, Es, ES
Q6.
Write this sentence completely in French: Je am petite and English.
Correct Answer: Je suis petite et anglaise.

6 Questions

Q1.
Which words have the [i] sound in them?
français
Correct answer: intelligent
Correct answer: triste
mais
Correct answer: suis
Q2.
What is a cognate?
A word that looks similar in French and English but means something different.
A French word whose meaning cannot be recognised from its spelling.
Correct answer: A word that looks similar in French and English and has the same meaning.
Q3.
Which sound does 'elle' start with?
The same sound as we hear at the start of the word easy?
Correct answer: The same sound as we hear at the start of the word egg?
The same sound as we hear at the start of the word ill?
Q4.
Which is the missing word? Elle grande et calme.
Correct Answer: est, Est, EST
Q5.
Which is the missing word? est petit et méchant.
Correct Answer: Il, il, IL
Q6.
Which is the conjunction in this sentence? Il est intelligent mais triste.
Correct Answer: mais

Additional material

Download additional material