Identity and relationships with others: Writing
The GCSE writing task on Theme 1, 'Identity and relationships with others', requires describing oneself, one's family, friends and relationships with them. It is tested using a range of tenses, the present tense for who someone is now, the perfect tense for a past event such as meeting a friend, and the near future or conditional for future plans, together with a justified opinion about a relationship, connectives, a subordinate clause and an impersonal structure, while keeping verb endings, adjective agreement and accents accurate throughout.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read every bullet point on the task and underline the exact instruction in each one (e.g. describe your family, say what you did with a friend, give an opinion) so you do not miss marks for a bullet you forgot to answer.
- Plan one to two sentences per bullet before you write anything, and assign each bullet a tense: present tense for who someone is now (il s'appelle, elle est), perfect tense for a shared past event (nous avons fêté, je suis allé(e)), and near future or conditional for a future plan (nous allons nous voir, j'aimerais).
- Build in an opinion with a justification using je pense que, a mon avis or je trouve que, followed by parce que or car and a reason, e.g. 'à mon avis, mon meilleur ami est généreux parce qu'il m'aide toujours.'
- Add at least one subordinate clause with qui, que or quand to join two ideas into a longer, more complex sentence instead of two short ones, e.g. 'j'ai un frère qui s'appelle Louis.'
- Use a range of connectives across the answer (et, mais, donc, cependant, par contre, de plus) rather than repeating et every time, and vary your verbs of opinion (aimer, adorer, detester, s'entendre bien avec) instead of reusing the same one.
- Include one impersonal structure such as il est important de plus an infinitive or il faut plus an infinitive to comment on relationships in general, e.g. 'il est important de passer du temps en famille.'
- Before your final draft, check every verb ending matches its subject, check every adjective agrees in gender and number with the person it describes, and check accents (é, è, à) are all present, since these are the marks examiners deduct most often for accuracy.
Worked example
Write about your family and friends in French. Mention: who is in your family; what you did with a friend recently; what a good friend is like, in your opinion; what you are going to do together next weekend. Write approximately 40 words.
- Plan: bullet 1 needs present tense (il y a, il s'appelle); bullet 2 needs perfect tense (j'ai passé, nous avons); bullet 3 needs an opinion plus a justification; bullet 4 needs near future (nous allons).
- Build bullet 1: 'Dans ma famille, il y a mes parents et ma petite sœur, qui s'appelle Léa.' - present tense, plus a subordinate clause with qui.
- Build bullet 2: 'Le week-end dernier, je suis allé(e) au cinéma avec mon ami Tom.' - perfect tense with être, with agreement checked against the writer's gender (allée for a girl).
- Build bullet 3: 'À mon avis, un bon ami est quelqu'un de loyal parce qu'il t'écoute quand tu as un problème.' - opinion, justification with parce que, and a second subordinate clause with quand.
- Build bullet 4: 'Le week-end prochain, nous allons faire du shopping ensemble, ce qui va être amusant.' - near future with aller plus infinitive, plus the connective ce qui to add range.
- Check accuracy: allé/allée agreement is checked against the writer's gender, every present-tense verb ending matches its subject, and accents on repas words like allé and être are all present before the final version.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Conjugate 's'appeler' in the present tense for 'il' and for 'ils'.Show answer
Answer: il s'appelle; ils s'appellent.
Q2Put this sentence into the perfect tense: 'Je vais au parc avec ma soeur.'Show answer
Answer: Je suis allé(e) au parc avec ma sœur.
Q3Fill the gap with the correct possessive adjective: 'Voici ___ (my) meilleure amie.'Show answer
Answer: ma - 'Voici ma meilleure amie', because amie is feminine singular.
Q4Translate into French: 'My brother is taller than me.'Show answer
Answer: Mon frère est plus grand que moi.
Q5Give one connective you could use to contrast two opinions about a friendship.Show answer
Answer: cependant or par contre (both mean 'however'/'on the other hand').
Q6Correct the agreement error: 'Ma amie est très sympathique.'Show answer
Answer: Mon amie est très sympathique - amie starts with a vowel sound, so 'ma' becomes 'mon' even though amie is feminine.
Q7Write one sentence using an impersonal structure to say it is important to get on well with your family.Show answer
Answer: Il est important de bien s'entendre avec sa famille.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE French exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Write about yourself and your family in French. Mention: your personality; a member of your family and what they are like; something you did with your family recently; your opinion on family relationships. Write approximately 40 words in French.
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Write an article for a French exchange website about identity and relationships. Mention: what your personality is like and why; a description of a friend or family member; a problem you or a friend once had and how it was resolved; whether you prefer spending time with family or friends and why; your plans to see friends or family in the future. Write approximately 90 words in French.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
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See real GCSE French past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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