Relationships

• Ensure you know enough vocabulary around the topic of relationships, such as family (la famille), friends (les amis), and partners (les partenaires). Included in this should be definitions and detailed descriptions of these terms.

• Familiarise yourself with key phrases you might use to describe relationships, such as “Je m’entends bien avec …” (I get along well with …), “Je ne m’entends pas bien avec …” (I don’t get along well with …), or “Nous sommes très proches” (We are very close).

• Be ready to talk about different members of your family, their ages, professions, likes and dislikes, and how you get on with them. Remember, it’s ‘mon père’ (my father) but ‘ma mère’ (my mother). Knowing how to construct sentences about family members in French will be beneficial.

• Consider practising questions and answers about your best friend, what you like about them, and what you do together. For example: “Mon meilleur ami s’appelle… Nous aimons…” (My best friend’s name is… We like…).

• Prepare to speak about problems in relationships. This could be related to parents, siblings or friends. Use expressions like “Nous nous disputons souvent à cause de…” (We often argue because of…) or “Il/Elle m’énerve quand…” (He/She annoys me when…)

• Revise verb endings and tenses to ensure you can speak accurately about past, present and future relationships. For instance, you should be able to describe how your relationships have changed over time or predict how they might change in the future.

• Be aware of the rules for possession in French. For instance, ‘my brother’s car’ would translate as ‘la voiture de mon frère’ using ‘de’ for possession.

• Become familiar with adjectives relevant to describing people’s characteristics and personalities, and make sure you can agree these adjectives with the noun they describe (e.g. gentil/gentille for nice).

• Try practising longer dialogues or short presentations about relationships, as you may need to demonstrate your speaking skills on this topic.

• Listen to recordings in French that talk about relationships to improve your listening comprehension and get used to hearing this vocabulary spoken.