French Leaving Cert Writing Skills
LEAVING CERT FRENCH – WRITING SKILLS
What is it with students writing French? They freeze up and find the whole process so daunting. It really doesn’t have to be! Once a student has an idea of their tenses and how to use them properly, the rest should be plain sailing! However, this is not the case. Students have the vocabulary and know the verbs, but still find it inordinately difficult to put the two together. Did you know for example that in French, about 50% of French words are very similar in English. Here is a list of some of the common ones that you might find yourself using in the Leaving Cert exam:
| ANGLAIS | FRANÇAIS |
| Discrimination | La discrimination |
| Sport | Le sport |
| Racism | Le racisme |
| Pollution | La pollution |
| The Environment | L’environnement |
| Problem | Le problème |
| Solution | La solution |
| Social | Social(e) |
| Society | La société |
| Education system | Le système éducatif |
| Results | Les résultats |
| A diploma | Un diplôme |
| University | L’université |
| Planning | Le planification |
| Equality | L’égalité |
| Religion | La religion |
| An exam | Un examen |
| Revise | Réviser |
| Intimidation | L’intimidation |
| Biology | La biologie |
| Music | La musique |
| Corruption | La corruption |
| Terrorism | Le terrorisme |
| Drugs | La drogue |
| Alcohol | L’alcool |
There are also a lot of French verbs which are similar to their English equivalent
| ANGLAIS | FRANÇAIS |
| Explain | Expliquer |
| To give/donate | Donner |
| Boost | Booster |
| Combat | Combattre |
| To leave/quit | Quitter |
| Oxygenate | Oxygéner |
| Opt | Opter |
| To settle for/be content with | Se contenter |
| Recharge | Recharger |
| Absorb | Absorber |
| Place | Placer |
| Imagine | Imaginer |
| Exaggerate | Exagérer |
| Abuse | Abuser |
| Deliver | Délivrer |
| Estimate | Estimer |
| Modify | Modifier |
| Reduce | Réduire |
| Provoke or cause | Provoquer |
| Exacerbate | Exacerber |
| Observe | Observer |
| Continue | Continuer |
| Contribute | Contribuer |
| Respect | Respecter |
| Arrive | Arriver |
SAMPLE GRAMMATICAL CONSTRUCTIONS – LEAVING CERT FRENCH – WRITING SKILLS
- Leur objectif a été de + verb in the infinitive – Their objective was to
- Une menace – A threat
- Déclencher – To trigger/To launch/to start
- Il y avait – There was or there were
- Être condamné par – To be condemned by
- Avoir comme objectif – To have as a goal or objective
- Penser que – To think that
- Trouver que – To find or believe that
- Parfaitement approprié – Perfectly appropriate
- Parvenir à – To reach or come to
- Vouloir absolument – To wish or want absolutely to
- En provenance de – Coming from
- Suspendre – To suspend
- Il faut savoir que – It must be known or noted that
- Entraîner – To lead to
- Semer la pagaille – To wreak havoc
- Particulièrement difficile – Particularly or especially difficult
- C’est un fait avéré que – It is a well-established fact that…
LEAVING CERT FRENCH PLAN…
If you were to sign up for our Leaving Cert Annual Plan you would have access to..
- Over 500 sample topic sentences on a wide-range of topics
- Approximately 60 sample opinion pieces.
- Diary Entries
- Narrative writing technique & Phrases
- Grammar section
- Grammar exercises
- Reading comprehensions
- Verb drills
- Study guides
- Comprehensive oral section with videos
- Expressions & key constructions
- Letters and much more…