Junior Cert French Vocabulary

JUNIOR CERT FRENCH VOCABULARY

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY FOR THE JUNIOR CERT

LE VOCABULAIRE NÉCESSAIRE POUR LE BREVET

The Junior Certificate French exam is primarily focused on receptive linguistic skills. Students must be able to recognise words through both reading and listening. There is also a focus on productive skills, through the written and the optional oral sections. The listening is by far the most substantial chunk of the exam, with over 40% of the marks going for this section. However, the reading section accounts for over 30%, and so cannot be ignored. At honours level, students are presented with 9 reading comprehensions, which become progressively more difficult as students go through the paper.

 

JUNIOR CERT FRENCH VOCABULARY

As part of our Junior Cert Subscription, members have access to a wide range of vocabulary lists, some of which are accompanied by audio cards, which help with pronunciation.

Students answer all of the comprehensions in English, and they are being tested on their ability to understand written French, and be able to pick out the relevant information required.

While it is impossible to predict which topics will be covered on the paper, it is important to have an overall understanding of basic thematic French vocabulary, as certain vocabulary appears almost every year.

GUIDE TO EXAM

The following is a guide to what can and does come up in the reading section of the junior cert exam.

What do you do during the exam?

1. Read the heading and the sub-heading (if there is one) very carefully.
2. Read the questions which go with each section.
3. Be careful to answer what the question is asking “Who?” “When?” “How much?” “Why?” “Where?”
4. Look out for key words: “This morning”, “Yesterday” “Name one thing” etc..
5. Do not leave a blank. If you don’t understand, take an educated guess.
6. Check your answers, to make sure that you have answered the question properly.

JUNIOR CERT THEMES – JUNIOR CERT FRENCH VOCABULARY

In order to revise in the best possible way, here is an indication of the important stuff to learn. Please feel free to use this checklist as part of your own personal study plan, and tick off which vocabulary you have learnt.

THEME	EXAMPLES	LEARNT
Buildings	La banque – bank/ l’hôtel de ville – town hall/ la gare –Train station etc..
Shops	La boulangerie – bakery/La confiserie – confectionary/ La quincaillerie – hardware shop
Recipes	Couper – To cut/ faire cuire – to cook/ Préparer – to prepare
Directions	Tournez – turn/ à gauche- to the left / à droite – to the right
Signs	Ascenseur – Lift / Accès aux quais – Access to the platforms
Sports	Le foot – soccer/ le basket- basketball/ le rugby – rugby
Activities	Jouer aux échecs – to play chess/ la lecture – reading
Films/TV programmes	Une émission – A programme / Le spectacle – the show/ le cinéma- cinema
Animals	Un lapin – a rabbit/ un chien – a dog/ un mouton – a sheep
Modes of Transport	En avion – by aeroplane/ le bateau – the boat/ le car- coach
Holidays	Le soleil – Sun/ au bord de la mer – At the seaside/ Les vacances – Holidays
Weather	La météo – the weather forecast/ Nuageux – cloudy/ ensoleillé – sunny / brumeux – misty/foggy
Colours	Blanc/blanche –white/ noir –black/ rose – pink/ vert- green
Days of the week, months, seasons	lundi – Monday/ juillet – July/ En hiver – in the winter/ au printemps – in the spring
Prepositions	Sur- on top of / Dans – in / à – in/on/at/to/with/ sous – under/ à côté de – beside
House & furniture	Un lit – a bed/ une armoire- a wardrobe/ la cuisine – the kitchen/ Une chambre – a bedroom
House-hold & garden tasks	Tondre la pelouse – to mow the lawn/ vider le lave-vaisselle – to empty the dishwasher/ laver – to wash/ ranger – to tidy
Food & Drink	L’entrée – a starter/ le plat principal – main course/ le dessert – the dessert/ une boisson- a drink/ un café – a coffee
Numbers	Un – one/ vingt deux – twenty two/ quarante cinq – forty five
Physical Attributes	Grand- tall/ mignon – cute/ petit- small/
Feelings	Triste- sad/content- happy/ jaloux – jealous/
Adjectives	These are words that describe nouns la voiture rouge – the red car (red or rouge is the adjective)
Parts of the body	Le bras – arm/ la jambe – the leg/ la cheville – the ankle/ le cou – the neck/ la bouche – the mouth
Pharmacy	Une crème – a cream/ Une ordonnance – a prescription/ un pansement – a bandage/ Un sparadrap – a plaster
Ailments	Mal à la gorge – to have a sore throat/ mal à la tête – a headache/ une grippe – a flu/ une toux – a cough
Clothes	Une chemise – a shirt/ une jupe – a skirt/ une robe- a dress
Sizes & Quantity	Un kilo de – a kilo of / un litre – a litre/ taille 38 – size 38/ la pointure – shoe size/
Expressions of Time	Dans 5 minutes – in five minutes/ la semaine dernière – last week/ le weekend prochain – next weekend/ hier- yesterday
Expressions of quantity	Beaucoup de- a lot of/ trop de – too much/ un peu de – a little/
School subjects & school objects	Le stylo – the pen/ l’histoire – history/ une gomme – a rubber/ l’anglais – English/ la chaise – the chair
Jobs	Infirmière- nurse/ professeur – teacher/ serveur- waiter/ avocat – solicitor
The alphabet	Remember: “e” is pronounced as “euh” / “I” is pronounced as “ee” / “y” is pronounced as “ee-grek” / “J” is pronounced as “jee” and “g” is pronounced as “Jeay”

 

There is a wide variety of texts presented to students in the junior cert French exam. The key at this stage is to keep going over your vocabulary, and try and learn as much as possible between now and the exam.