These ten original questions check foundations that support every skill in IGCSE French. They move from easy to harder, and each answer shows the reasoning so you can see why, not only what.
Write or say your answer first, then open the answer and compare.
Do three or four at a time, and note any mistake in the mistake log and retest queue. For the wider picture, see the French learning guide.
Questions
1. Articles (easy). Complete with le, la, l’ or les: ___ école est près de ___ gare.
Show answer
L’école est près de la gare.
École is feminine but starts with a vowel sound, so la becomes l’. Gare starts with a consonant and is feminine, so it takes la.
2. Agreement (easy). Choose the correct form: Mes amies sont (content / contente / contents / contentes).
Show answer
Mes amies sont contentes.
Amies is feminine and plural, so the adjective takes both the feminine -e and the plural -s.
3. Regular verb (easy). Complete: Nous ___ (manger) à midi.
Show answer
Nous mangeons à midi.
The nous ending is -ons. The verb keeps an e after g so that the g still sounds soft, as in mange.
4. Irregular verb (medium). Complete: Vous ___ (faire) du sport le samedi ?
Show answer
Vous faites du sport le samedi ?
Faire is irregular. The vous form is faites, not faisez. Learn the irregular vous forms as a set with dites and êtes.
5. Numbers (medium). Write these in digits: quatre-vingt-douze, soixante-quinze, soixante et onze.
Show answer
92, 75, 71.
Quatre-vingt is 80, so quatre-vingt-douze is 80 + 12 = 92. Soixante-quinze is 60 + 15 = 75. Soixante et onze is 60 + 11 = 71. Listen for the end of the word, because soixante alone is 60.
6. Negative (medium). Rewrite in the negative: Je mange de la viande.
Show answer
Je ne mange pas de viande.
Ne goes before the verb and pas after it. After a negative, de la becomes de because the quantity is zero.
7. Reading for a detail (medium). Read the notice, then answer in English: which class changes, what time does it start now, and does anything else change?
Le club de natation change d’horaire. À partir du 5 octobre, les cours du mercredi commencent à 17 h 30 au lieu de 18 h. Les cours du samedi ne changent pas.
Show answer
The Wednesday class. It now starts at 17:30 instead of 18:00. Nothing else changes, because Saturday classes stay the same.
Au lieu de means “instead of”, so 18 h is the old time. Ne changent pas tells you Saturday is unaffected. Read to the end so you do not miss the last sentence.
8. Passé composé (harder). Complete: Hier, nous ___ (aller) au musée.
Show answer
Hier, nous sommes allés au musée.
Aller is a movement verb that uses être, so the participle agrees with the subject. If nous means girls only, write allées. Hier shows that the event is finished.
9. Two past tenses (harder). Complete: Il ___ (pleuvoir) quand je ___ (sortir).
Show answer
Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti(e).
The rain is background description, so it takes the imparfait: pleuvait. Going out is a single event, so it takes the passé composé. Sortir uses être, so a girl writes sortie.
10. Expanding an answer (harder). Answer Tu aimes le sport ? in at least two sentences, including a reason and one detail. Write it or say it aloud.
Show answer
One possible answer: Oui, j’aime le sport parce que ça me détend après les cours. Je joue au badminton avec mes amis le samedi matin.
Your answer will differ. Check that it gives a reason (parce que), a detail (when and with whom), correct verb endings and a sentence that stands on its own. A short answer that stops at Oui, j’aime misses most of what the question invites.
If you got these wrong
Match each mistake to a lesson or module, then write two new sentences to test the fix.
| Mistake | Go to |
|---|---|
| Question 1, articles or elision | Choosing articles in an original short description and sound, spelling and intelligibility |
| Question 2, agreement | Checking adjective placement and agreement in context |
| Questions 3 and 4, verb forms | Using a regular verb to express an everyday action and common irregular present forms |
| Question 5, numbers | Listening for key information and the original listening practice player |
| Question 6, negatives | Present-time expression |
| Question 7, reading | Reading for meaning |
| Questions 8 and 9, past tenses | Choosing a tense that fits a time reference and contrasting a past event with a background description |
| Question 10, short answers | Speaking preparation and interaction and developing an original written response |
For a full set on one topic, use the practice page at the end of each module, such as sentence foundations and agreement practice.
What to do next
If you scored well, choose a harder topic from the study route guide and build a revision plan with the revision guide. If the same type of question keeps failing, a teacher can ask you to say your reasoning aloud. See online one-to-one French tuition.