Identity and relationships with others: Vocabulary in context
The core vocabulary for identity and relationships with others is what GCSE French uses to describe a person, their family and the people around them: family nouns with their gender (le père, la mère, le demi-frère, la belle-mère, les grands-parents), physical description (les cheveux, les yeux plus a colour adjective), personality adjectives that must agree with the person described (bavard/bavarde, gentil/gentille, égoïste), and the verbs and set phrases used to talk about relationships, such as s'entendre bien avec, se disputer avec and faire confiance à.
Before you start
No specific prerequisites - this is a good place to start.
Method
- Learn family nouns in gendered pairs, e.g. le père/la mère, le frère/la soeur, le demi-frère/la demi-soeur, les grands-parents, so the article is fixed in memory from the start rather than guessed later.
- Learn personality adjectives with both forms side by side: bavard/bavarde (talkative), gentil/gentille (kind), mignon/mignonne (cute), paresseux/paresseuse (lazy), égoïste (selfish, invariable), since GCSE marks agreement even in short answers.
- Build a bank of relationship verbs with the preposition each one takes: s'entendre bien avec (to get on well with), se disputer avec (to argue with), faire confiance à (to trust), compter sur (to rely on) - a correct verb with the wrong preposition still loses marks.
- Learn the false friend sympathique: it means nice or likeable, not sympathetic (which is compatissant/compatissante), and watch for sensible, which means sensitive, not sensible in the English sense (raisonnable).
- Practise turning a bare description into an opinion sentence with a connective (mais, donc, parce que): 'Mon frère est bavard, mais il est aussi très généreux' scores higher than two disconnected adjectives.
- When reading or listening, watch for a negative attached to a relationship verb you already know (ne...jamais, ne...plus): 'on ne se dispute jamais' reverses the meaning completely, and missing the ne...jamais costs the mark.
- Learn the near-miss beau-père/belle-mère: depending on context it means step-father/step-mother or father-in-law/mother-in-law, so a reading text needs to be checked for whether a divorce or a marriage has been mentioned.
Worked example
Build a full GCSE-style answer to 'Décris ta soeur' using at least one physical adjective, one personality adjective and one relationship verb.
- Fix the gender of the noun first: ma soeur is feminine, so every adjective directly describing her must take the feminine form.
- Add a physical detail: elle a les cheveux longs et bruns - cheveux is masculine plural, so longs and bruns agree with cheveux, not with soeur.
- Add a personality adjective agreeing with soeur (feminine): elle est très bavarde.
- Add a relationship verb with its correct preposition: je m'entends très bien avec elle.
- Join the ideas with a connective so the answer reads as continuous prose rather than a list: 'Ma soeur a les cheveux longs et bruns, et elle est très bavarde, donc je m'entends très bien avec elle.'
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1What is the gender of soeur, and what is its article?Show answer
Answer: Feminine - la soeur.
Q2Translate into English: 'Je m'entends très bien avec mon demi-frère.'Show answer
Answer: I get on very well with my half-brother.
Q3Give the feminine form of the adjective gentil.Show answer
Answer: gentille
Q4Translate into French: 'My grandparents are very generous.'Show answer
Answer: Mes grands-parents sont très généreux.
Q5What does sympathique mean in French, and what English word does it NOT mean?Show answer
Answer: It means nice or likeable; it does not mean sympathetic, which is compatissant/compatissante in French.
Q6Fill the gap with the correct preposition: 'Je fais confiance ___ ma meilleure amie.'Show answer
Answer: à - Je fais confiance à ma meilleure amie.
Q7Correct the agreement error in: 'Ma mère est généreux.'Show answer
Answer: Ma mère est généreuse.
Q8Give one verb phrase meaning 'to fall out with someone.'Show answer
Answer: se disputer avec quelqu'un
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE French exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Lisez ce texte, puis répondez aux questions en anglais. 'Je m'appelle Lea. J'ai un frère jumeau qui s'appelle Hugo. Nous nous entendons très bien, même si on se dispute de temps en temps à propos des tâches ménagères. Mes parents sont divorcés, donc j'habite avec ma mère et mon beau-père pendant la semaine, et je vois mon père le week-end. Ma demi-soeur, qui a trois ans, me fait beaucoup rire.' (a) What relation is Hugo to Lea? (1 mark) (b) What do Lea and Hugo sometimes argue about? (1 mark) (c) Describe Lea's living arrangement during the week, and who she sees at weekends. (2 marks) (d) How does Lea feel about her half-sister? Give a reason. (2 marks)
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Translate this passage into English: 'Mon meilleur ami est très marrant et il ne se dispute jamais avec moi. Par contre, ma cousine est assez égoïste et on ne s'entend pas très bien. À mon avis, il est important de choisir des amis en qui on peut avoir confiance.'
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See real GCSE French past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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