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New
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Year 7

Read about friends: feminisation of person nouns

Learning outcomes

I know how to make person nouns feminine and can read and understand a text about a friend.

I can recognise the silent final -e [SFe]

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New
New
Year 7

Read about friends: feminisation of person nouns

Learning outcomes

I know how to make person nouns feminine and can read and understand a text about a friend.

I can recognise the silent final -e [SFe]

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. -e at the end of a word is usually silent in French.
  2. 'C'est' means it/this is but applied to people it means he/she is.
  3. An -e is often added to a person noun in the feminine form e.g une amie.
  4. Cognates are words where most of the letters are the same in two languages.
  5. We can use cognates and our knowledge of grammar to understand French texts.

Keywords

  • SFe - silent final -e

  • Person noun - a noun used for a person e.g. un professeur

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

Common misconception

'C'est' only translates to 'it is/that is'.

When talking about objects, 'c'est' translates to 'it is/that is' but when applied to people it can also mean 'he/she is'.

Make the final reading task more interactive by placing students in pairs to analyse the text together.
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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.
Identify the words with SFC (Silent Final Consonant).
Correct answer: dans
malade
Correct answer: prix
au revoir
Correct answer: petit
Q2.
Match the French adjectives to the English.
Correct Answer:anglais/anglaise,English
tick

English

Correct Answer:cher/chère,expensive
tick

expensive

Correct Answer:français/française,French
tick

French

Correct Answer:grand/grande,big
tick

big

Correct Answer:méchant/méchante,mean
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mean

Correct Answer:petit/petite,small
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small

Q3.
Match the high frequency verbs.
Correct Answer:je suis,I am
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I am

Correct Answer:tu es,you are
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you are

Correct Answer:il est,he is
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he is

Correct Answer:j'ai,I have
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I have

Correct Answer:tu as,you have
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you have

Correct Answer:il a,he has
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he has

Q4.
Because of grammatical gender rules in French nouns, the two words for 'a/an' are and 'une'.
Correct Answer: un, Un, UN
Q5.
What is the rule for making most adjectives feminine?
Correct Answer: add an -e, add -e, add e, put an -e on the word
Q6.
Write the English for the French pronouns 'je', 'tu', 'il' and 'elle'
Correct Answer: I, you, he she, iyouheshe, I you he she

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French phrase to the English meaning.
Correct Answer:amie,female friend
tick

female friend

Correct Answer:chanteuse,female singer
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female singer

Correct Answer:professeure,female teacher
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female teacher

Correct Answer:professeur,male teacher
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male teacher

Correct Answer:ami,male friend
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male friend

Correct Answer:chanteur,male singer
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male singer

Q2.
Which phonics rule is present in the words 'timide', 'monde', 'femme' and 'une'?
SFC
Correct answer: SFe
liaison
Q3.
What does the adjective 'vrai' mean in English?
false
interesting
nice
Correct answer: true
Q4.
Match the sentence halves.
Correct Answer:Je,suis amusante.
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suis amusante.

Correct Answer:C'est une amie,intéressante.
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intéressante.

Correct Answer:C'est un homme,content.
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content.

Correct Answer:Tu,es malade?
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es malade?

Q5.
'He, she is' (il est, elle est) can also be translated as ...
Correct Answer: c'est, C'EST, C'est
Q6.
'Timide' requires an extra 'e' in the feminine form. True or false?
Correct Answer: false, False, FALSE

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