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Year 8

How do you say that? articles, 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas'

Learning outcomes

I can recall a number of nouns with their definite and indefinite articles and say what there is and isn't using 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas de'.

I can recall a range of sound-symbol correspondences.

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New
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Year 8

How do you say that? articles, 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas'

Learning outcomes

I can recall a number of nouns with their definite and indefinite articles and say what there is and isn't using 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas de'.

I can recall a range of sound-symbol correspondences.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Sound-symbol correspondences help us with spelling and pronunciation of new and familiar vocabulary.
  2. All nouns have a grammatical gender in French, masculine or feminine.
  3. The indefinite article is 'un' for masculine singular nouns, 'une' for feminine singular nouns and 'des' for plurals.
  4. The French definite articles are 'le, 'la', 'l''and 'les'.
  5. Use 'il y a' + indefinite article/number say what there is and 'il n' y a pas' + de/d' to say what there isn't.

Keywords

  • Sound-symbol correspondence - relationship between letters and their sounds

  • Noun - word for a person, place or thing

  • Gender - grammatical categorisation of all nouns as masculine or feminine

Common misconception

Use the same articles after 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas'.

Use the indefinite article, depending on gender and number after 'il y a' but after 'il n' y a pas', always use de regardless of gender/number and d' for any nouns starting with a vowel.


To help you plan your year 8 french lesson on: How do you say that? articles, 'il y a' and 'il n'y a pas', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

This lessons recaps all the sound-symbol correspondences learnt in Year 7 but you may want to spend longer on some SSCs if you know students struggle with some sounds. Equally, if you think students need more practice on numbers and you have access to dice, activity C1 could go on for much longer.
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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.
What does the verb 'écouter' mean?
Correct answer: to listen, listening
to read, reading
to speak, speaking
to write, writing
to understand, understanding
Q2.
Match the articles with their description.
Correct Answer:le,the (masculine singular nouns)
tick

the (masculine singular nouns)

Correct Answer:la,the (feminine singular nouns)
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the (feminine singular nouns)

Correct Answer:les,the (plural nouns)
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the (plural nouns)

Correct Answer:l',the (singular nouns beginning with a vowel or silent 'h')
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the (singular nouns beginning with a vowel or silent 'h')

Q3.
What is 'there isn't' in French?
je ne suis pas
je n'ai pas
ce n'est pas
Correct answer: il n'y a pas
il n'est pas
Q4.
Order the French numbers from smallest to biggest.
1 - un
2 - trois
3 - quatre
4 - sept
5 - huit
6 - dix
7 - douze
Q5.
The masculine indefinite article is 'un'. What is the feminine definite article?
Correct Answer: une
Q6.
Which words contain silent final consonants?
Correct answer: deux
Correct answer: enfant
garçon
Correct answer: toujours
timide

6 Questions

Q1.
'Dans la maison il y a une chemise'. Which sound-symbol correspondences (SSCs) appear in this sentence?
[a]
[é/er/ez]
Correct answer: [i]
Correct answer: [silent final -e]
Correct answer: [silent final consonant]
Q2.
Match the French and English.
Correct Answer:l'homme,the man
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the man

Correct Answer:la porte,the door
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the door

Correct Answer:l'ordinateur,the computer
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the computer

Correct Answer:la voiture,the car
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the car

Correct Answer:le livre,the book
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the book

Correct Answer:le chien,the dog
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the dog

Q3.
'Il y a portables'. Which article is correct?
un
une
Correct answer: des
de
d'
Q4.
Order the words to say: 'There is no computer'.
1 - il
2 - n'
3 - y
4 - a
5 - pas
6 - d'
7 - ordinateur
Q5.
Which phrase uses liaison?
huit fruits
des chiens
deux portes
Correct answer: trois ordinateurs
six vélos
Q6.
Match the definite article to the noun.
Correct Answer:les,vélos
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vélos

Correct Answer:le,portable
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portable

Correct Answer:la,chemise
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chemise

Correct Answer:l',homme
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homme

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