Free-time activities: Writing
The GCSE writing task for Theme 1, 'Free-time activities', covers sport, hobbies, screen time, going out with friends and how leisure time is spent. Examiners test whether a student can describe current hobbies in the present tense, a past leisure activity or event in the perfect tense, and future leisure plans in the near future or conditional, while giving an opinion on a hobby or on screen time with a reason, using a range of connectives, a subordinate clause and an impersonal structure, and keeping verb endings, agreement and accents accurate throughout.
Before you start
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Method
- Underline the exact instruction in each bullet point (a hobby, a past outing, screen time habits, a future plan) before planning sentences.
- Assign a tense per bullet: present tense for regular hobbies (je joue, je fais), perfect tense for a specific past event (je suis allé(e), j'ai joué), and near future/conditional for a future plan (je vais sortir, j'aimerais essayer).
- Give an opinion with je pense que or à mon avis plus parce que and a reason, e.g. 'à mon avis, le foot est le sport le plus intéressant parce que c'est un sport d'équipe.'
- Add a subordinate clause with qui, que or où to combine ideas, e.g. 'je vais dans un club où je peux jouer au basket.'
- Vary connectives (mais, donc, ensuite, puis, par contre) and vocabulary of enjoyment (adorer, préférer, s'amuser, passionner) rather than repeating aimer every time.
- Include one impersonal structure such as il est important de plus an infinitive or il faut plus an infinitive to comment on the value of free time or the risk of too much screen time.
- Check reflexive verb endings (je m'amuse), agreement on any être verbs in the perfect tense (je suis allé/allée), and accents on words like intéressant, équipe and préféré before the final draft.
Worked example
Write about your free time in French. Mention: your favourite hobby and why; something you did with friends recently; how much time you spend on screens; your plans for the weekend. Write approximately 40 words.
- Plan: bullet 1 = present tense with opinion; bullet 2 = perfect tense; bullet 3 = present tense with a time expression and an opinion; bullet 4 = near future.
- Build bullet 1: 'Mon passe-temps préféré est la danse parce que cela me permet de m'exprimer.' - present tense, opinion, justification.
- Build bullet 2: 'Samedi dernier, je suis allé(e) au centre commercial avec mes copains.' - perfect tense with être and agreement.
- Build bullet 3: 'Je passe environ deux heures par jour sur mon portable, ce qui est raisonnable à mon avis.' - present tense, subordinate clause with ce qui, opinion.
- Build bullet 4: 'Ce week-end, je vais regarder un match de foot avec mon père.' - near future with aller plus infinitive.
- Check accuracy: allé/allée agrees with the writer's gender, passe-temps keeps its hyphen and accent, and every present-tense ending matches its subject before the final write-up.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1Conjugate 'faire' in the present tense for 'je' and 'nous'.Show answer
Answer: je fais; nous faisons.
Q2Translate into French: 'I played basketball last Saturday.'Show answer
Answer: J'ai joué au basket samedi dernier.
Q3Give one French phrase meaning 'to have fun'.Show answer
Answer: s'amuser (e.g. 'on s'amuse bien').
Q4Fill the gap: 'Le week-end, mes amis et moi ___ (aller) au cinema.'Show answer
Answer: allons - the nous form of aller.
Q5Give a connective meaning 'then/next' used to sequence activities.Show answer
Answer: ensuite (or puis).
Q6Correct the error: 'Je suis alle au parc hier.'Show answer
Answer: Je suis allé(e) au parc hier - missing accent on alle, and an extra e is needed if the writer is female.
Q7Write one sentence with an opinion on video games, using a justification.Show answer
Answer: Je trouve les jeux vidéo amusants, mais je pense qu'il ne faut pas y jouer trop longtemps.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE French exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Write about your free time in French. Mention: what you like doing in your free time and why; a hobby or sport you did last weekend; how you use social media; what you are going to do next weekend. Write approximately 40 words in French.
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Write a post for a teen magazine about free time and technology. Mention: your favourite way to spend free time and why; a memorable outing or activity you did recently with friends or family; the advantages and disadvantages of spending time on screens; your opinion on whether young people do enough sport, with reasons; your plans for a leisure activity in the near future. Write approximately 90 words in French.
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See real GCSE French past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the free-time activities: writing worksheet pack - 7 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
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