KS2 · French · Year 5
Hair and eyes: singular and plural adjective agreement
What I and others have: plural 'avoir' and nouns
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can describe people's physical appearance in French (eyes and hair).
1 of 11
Hair and eyes: singular and plural adjective agreement: 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 people's physical appearance in French (eyes and hair).
Key learning points
- The French [ch] is different to the English 'ch'. The French [ch] sounds like the English 'sh'.
- To refer to a singular noun in French, use the definite article 'the': 'le' (m) or 'la' (f). Before a vowel use 'l’'.
- Before a plural noun, use the definite article 'the': 'les'. 'Les' does not change based on the gender of the noun.
- In French, adjectives often go after the noun, e.g. 'le visage rond'.
- Adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe (adjective agreement), e.g. 'les cheveux bouclés'.
Words to know
- [ch]
- pronounced as in 'chercher'
- definite article
- used to identify a specific noun or group of nouns ('the')
- le, la, les, l'
- French for 'the' (in the masculine, feminine, plural forms, and before a vowel)
- adjective agreement
- ending of an adjective matching the noun it describes in gender and number
Common mistakes
Like in English, there is no article when making physical descriptions, e.g. 'I have blond hair'.
In French, we use definite articles when making physical descriptions, e.g. 'J'ai les cheveux blonds'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Play a game of guess who with pupils in your class. A pupil describes someone else in the class and the rest of the pupils have to guess who it is.