KS3 · French · Year 7
Describe people and places: using correct adjectival position
Paris and Nice: adjective placement
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/10
Your learning goal
I can describe my ideal town using pre-nominal and post-nominal adjectives.
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Describe people and places: using correct adjectival position: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can describe my ideal town using pre-nominal and post-nominal adjectives.
Key learning points
- The letter 'c' is naturally soft (sounds like s) before 'e' or 'i'. It is hard (sounds like k) before 'a', 'o' or 'u'.
- The 'c' is sometimes softened before 'a', 'o' or 'u' with a cedilla: 'ç'.
- Most adjectives add an 'e' in the feminine form. Some adjectives are irregular in the feminine: eg. beau (m), belle (f).
- Most adjectives come after the noun in French: 'un livre intéressant'.
- Some adjectives go before the noun. These adjectives refer to beauty, age, good/bad and size (BAGS): 'un vieux vélo'.
Words to know
- [c/ç]
- 'c' makes a soft sound (like 's') before 'e' or 'i': 'ici', 'ç' makes a soft sound before 'a', 'o' or 'u': 'français'
- pre-nominal adjective
- a BAGS adjective (beauty, age, good/bad or size) that goes before the noun: 'un vieux vélo'
- post-nominal adjective
- an adjective that goes after the noun: 'un livre intéressant' (most adjectives in French)
Common mistakes
The letter 'c' makes a soft sound in front of 'a', 'o' and 'u'.
The letter 'c' makes a hard sound in front of 'a', 'o' and 'u'. We use the cedilla 'ç' to make a soft sound in front of 'a', 'o' and 'u': français.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Pupils could use dictionaires in the final writing activity to search for more town vocabulary to use in the description of their ideal town. This will support the development of language dictionary skills.