1.1Core vocabulary
This theme covers who you live with, how you get on with them, what makes a good friend, and how relationships change. Almost every question on it can be answered from a small core of nouns plus the verbs of getting on and falling out.
- la famille nombreuse
- a large family
- le demi-frere / la demi-soeur
- half-brother / half-sister
- s'entendre bien avec
- to get on well with
- se disputer avec
- to argue with
- le rapport
- the relationship
- aine / cadet
- older / younger (of siblings)
- fiable
- reliable
- penible
- annoying
- soutenir
- to support
- faire confiance a
- to trust
1.1The grammar this theme needs
Reflexive verbs dominate. S'entendre, se disputer, s'appeler and se reunir all take a pronoun that changes with the subject: je m'entends, tu t'entends, il s'entend, nous nous entendons, vous vous entendez, ils s'entendent.
In the perfect tense every reflexive verb takes etre, and the past participle agrees with the subject: elle s'est disputee avec sa soeur.
Possessive adjectives agree with the thing owned, not the owner. Mon frere but ma soeur; son pere means both his father and her father, and which one is meant comes from the context, not from the word.
Common mistake
Writing 'sa frere' for 'his brother'. The adjective agrees with frere, which is masculine, so it is son frere whoever the brother belongs to.
1.1Comparing people
Comparisons come up constantly in this theme. Plus ... que, moins ... que and aussi ... que surround the adjective, which still agrees with the noun it describes.
Worked example
Answer:
Common mistake
Using 'plus bon' for 'better'. The correct form is meilleur.
1.1Answering on this theme
A photo card or a written task on family rewards two things: a reason attached to every opinion, and at least one tense other than the present. A sentence such as 'je m'entends bien avec ma mere' scores far less than the same sentence followed by parce qu'elle m'ecoute toujours.
- Reflexive verbs take etre in the perfect and the participle agrees
- Possessive adjectives agree with the thing owned
- Use meilleur before a noun and mieux after a verb
- Attach a reason to every opinion using parce que or car