Grammar Drilling for French
Master the grammar patterns that unlock marks across all four papers
Why Grammar Matters for AQA French
AQA assesses grammar in every paper. In writing and speaking, your mark for “linguistic knowledge and accuracy” depends directly on how well you handle verb tenses, agreements, and sentence structures. In listening and reading, grammatical clues help you decode meaning — a negative (ne...pas) completely changes the meaning of a sentence, and recognising a past tense tells you the event has already happened.
Grammar drilling isn’t about learning rules in isolation — it’s about practising patterns until they become automatic. When you can form the passé composé without thinking, you free up mental energy to focus on what you actually want to say.
Avoir vs Être: The Foundation
The passé composé (perfect tense) is the most important past tense for GCSE. Most verbs use avoir as the auxiliary, but a crucial group use être. Getting this wrong is one of the most common errors in the exam.
Être Verbs — The DR MRS VANDERTRAMP Mnemonic
| Letter | Verb | Meaning | Past participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| D | Devenir | To become | devenu |
| R | Revenir | To come back | revenu |
| M | Monter | To go up | monté |
| R | Rester | To stay | resté |
| S | Sortir | To go out | sorti |
| V | Venir | To come | venu |
| A | Aller | To go | allé |
| N | Naître | To be born | né |
| D | Descendre | To go down | descendu |
| E | Entrer | To enter | entré |
| R | Rentrer | To go home | rentré |
| T | Tomber | To fall | tombé |
| R | Retourner | To return | retourné |
| A | Arriver | To arrive | arrivé |
| M | Mourir | To die | mort |
| P | Partir | To leave | parti |
Plus all reflexive verbs: se lever (to get up), se coucher (to go to bed), s’amuser (to have fun).
Key rule: With être verbs, the past participle agrees with the subject. Elle est allée (she went) — add “e” for feminine. Ils sont arrivés (they arrived) — add “s” for masculine plural. Elles sont parties — add “es” for feminine plural.
Negation: Beyond Ne...Pas
Negation wraps around the verb. The mark schemes rewards students who use a variety of negative structures, not just ne...pas.
| Structure | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ne...pas | not | Je ne mange pas de viande — I don’t eat meat |
| ne...jamais | never | Il ne fait jamais ses devoirs — He never does his homework |
| ne...rien | nothing | Je ne comprends rien — I understand nothing |
| ne...plus | no longer | Elle ne fume plus — She no longer smokes |
| ne...personne | nobody | Je ne connais personne — I know nobody |
| ne...que | only | Il n’a que dix euros — He only has ten euros |
| ne...ni...ni | neither...nor | Je ne bois ni café ni thé — I drink neither coffee nor tea |
In the passé composé: The negative wraps around the auxiliary, not the past participle. Je n’ai pas mangé (I didn’t eat). Il n’est jamais allé (He has never been).
Pronoun Order
French pronouns go before the verb, not after it like in English. When multiple pronouns appear, they follow a strict order that examiners test in the reading paper and reward in writing.
| Position 1 | Position 2 | Position 3 | Position 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| me, te, se, nous, vous | le, la, les | lui, leur | y, en |
Examples:
- Il me le donne — He gives it to me
- Je la lui prête — I lend it (fem.) to him/her
- Il y va — He goes there
- J’en ai trois — I have three of them
Tip for GCSE: You don’t need to master complex double-pronoun sentences. Focus on using y (replaces à + place: J’y vais = I go there) and en (replaces de + noun: J’en mange = I eat some) confidently. These impress examiners and are achievable at GCSE level.
Tense Toolkit: What You Need for Each Grade
AQA rewards students who use a range of tenses. Here’s what to aim for at each target grade:
| Target | Tenses needed | Key structures |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 4–5 | Present + one other | Present tense of common verbs; passé composé OR near future (je vais + infinitive) |
| Grade 6–7 | Present + past + future | Passé composé (avoir & être), simple future (je jouerai), imperfect for descriptions (il faisait beau) |
| Grade 8–9 | All of above + conditional + subjunctive | Conditional (je voudrais, ce serait), pluperfect (j’avais mangé), subjunctive after il faut que and bien que |
Subjunctive Basics
The subjunctive sounds advanced, but you only need a few key phrases to use it effectively at GCSE. It appears after expressions of necessity, doubt, and emotion.
Triggers to learn:
- Il faut que + subjunctive — It is necessary that
- Bien que + subjunctive — Although
- Pour que + subjunctive — So that
- Je veux que + subjunctive — I want (someone) to
High-value phrases to memorise:
- Il faut que je fasse mes devoirs — I must do my homework (faire → fasse)
- Bien que ce soit difficile — Although it is difficult (être → soit)
- Pour que tout le monde puisse participer — So that everyone can participate (pouvoir → puisse)
- Il faut que nous allions au collège — We have to go to school (aller → allions)
Exam tip: Even using one subjunctive correctly in your writing or speaking can push you into the top mark band. Learn 3–4 set phrases and slot them into your exam answers where they fit naturally.
Grammar Drilling Routine
- 15 min — Verb conjugation sprint — Pick one verb (e.g., aller). Write it out in 4 tenses: present, passé composé, imperfect, future. All 6 persons (je, tu, il/elle, nous, vous, ils/elles). Time yourself.
- 25 min — Sentence transformation — Take 5 present-tense sentences and rewrite each one in the passé composé, then the future. Example: Je mange une pomme → J’ai mangé une pomme → Je mangerai une pomme.
- 35 min — Negation practice — Take 5 positive sentences and make each one negative using a different negative structure (ne...pas, ne...jamais, ne...rien, ne...plus, ne...personne).
- 45 min — Check and correct — Compare your answers with your notes or the lesson content. For every error, write the correct version three times. Pay special attention to être verb agreement and accent placement.
1. Je joue au football → J’ai joué au football → Je jouerai au football
2. Elle va au cinéma → Elle est allée au cinéma (note: être + agreement) → Elle ira au cinéma
3. Nous mangeons à la cantine → Nous avons mangé à la cantine → Nous mangerons à la cantine
4. Ils se lèvent tôt → Ils se sont levés tôt (reflexive: être + agreement) → Ils se lèveront tôt
5. Tu fais du sport → Tu as fait du sport → Tu feras du sport
Check your work: Sentence 2 uses être (aller is a DR MRS VANDERTRAMP verb) and adds “e” because the subject is elle (feminine). Sentence 4 is reflexive, so it also uses être and adds “s” for masculine plural. These agreement rules are where most marks are lost.
Common Mistakes
- Forgetting past participle agreement with être — Elle est allé is wrong; it must be elle est allée. Always check whether your verb uses être, then match the ending to the subject.
- Putting negation in the wrong place — In the passé composé, the negative wraps the auxiliary: Je n’ai pas mangé, NOT J’ai ne pas mangé.
- Only using the present tense — Even one correctly used past or future tense pushes you up the mark bands. Always include at least two tenses in any writing or speaking response.
- Learning rules without practising — Knowing that the passé composé uses avoir or être is useless if you can’t form it under time pressure. Drill, don’t just read.