FRENCH SYLLABUS

Unit 1: First Contacts

• French alphabet and basic spelling

• Numbers 0–100

• Greetings and politeness formulas

• Introducing oneself (name, age, nationality)

• Basic classroom objects and common nouns

• Subject pronouns je, tu, il, elle, on, nous, vous, ils, elles

• Verb être (to be) – present tense

• Definite and indefinite articles

Unit 2: Getting to Know Others

• Asking and giving personal information (address, phone number, email)

• Family vocabulary

• Verb avoir (to have) – present tense

• Possessive adjectives (mon, ma, mes, etc.)

• Regular -er verbs (parler, habiter, aimer)

• Negative structures (ne…pas)

• Yes/no questions with est-ce que and intonation

Unit 3: Daily Life and Routines

• Telling time

• Days of the week, months, seasons

• Daily routine vocabulary (waking up, meals, work, leisure)

• Reflexive verbs (se lever, se laver, etc.) – present tense

• Prepositions of place (dans, sur, sous, devant, derrière, à côté de)

• The near future tense (aller + infinitive)

Unit 4: Describing and Expressing Likes

• Colors, sizes, and basic adjectives

• Adjective agreement (masculine/feminine, singular/plural)

• Common -ir verbs (finir, choisir, dormir)

• Expressing likes and dislikes (aimer, adorer, détester, préférer)

• Question words (où, quand, comment, pourquoi, combien, quel)

• Asking for permission and making polite requests (pouvoir, vouloir)

Unit 5: Travel and Places

• Places in a town (bank, post office, supermarket, station, museum)

• Directions and getting around

• Means of transport

• The verb aller (to go) with contractions (au, à la, à l’, aux)

• The preposition chez (at someone’s place)

• Imperative mood for giving directions

Unit 6: Past Events

• Introduction to passé composé with avoir

• Common past participles (mangé, fini, attendu)

• Time expressions in the past (hier, la semaine dernière, etc.)

• Passé composé with être (DR MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs)

• Agreement of the past participle with the subject

• Adverbs of time and frequency (déjà, encore, jamais, toujours)

Unit 7: Food, Meals, and Shopping

• Food and drink vocabulary

• Meals (petit-déjeuner, déjeuner, dîner)

• Partitive articles (du, de la, de l’, des)

• Expressions of quantity (un peu de, beaucoup de, trop de)

• Shopping phrases and polite requests

• Verbs prendre, boire, acheter, vendre – present tense

Unit 8: Expressing Opinions and Comparisons

• Comparative and superlative (plus…que, moins…que, aussi…que, le/la plus)

• Giving advice (devoir, il faut)

• Expressing obligation and necessity

• Object pronouns (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les)

• Introduction to the pronoun y (for places and things)

Unit 9: Describing Memories and Habits in the Past

• Imparfait (formation and uses)

• Contrast between passé composé and imparfait

• Expressions of duration and repetition in the past

• Time markers (autrefois, chaque jour, toujours, souvent)

Unit 10: Future and Conditional

• Simple future tense (formation and common irregulars: être, avoir, aller, faire, venir)

• Future time markers (demain, la semaine prochaine, dans cinq ans)

• Conditional mood (present) – politeness, wishes, hypotheticals

• Si clauses (present + future / present + imperative)

Unit 11: Expressing Feelings and Subjective Reactions

• Emotions, sensations, and personal reactions vocabulary

• Subjunctive mood – formation of regular and common irregulars

• Common triggers (il faut que, je veux que, je suis content que, bien que)

• Avoiding the subjunctive (avec que certain expressions like après que)

Unit 12: Connecting Speech and Giving Instructions

• Relative pronouns (qui, que, dont, où)

• Indirect speech (present → present / future)

• Expressing cause (parce que, puisque, car)

• Expressing consequence (donc, alors, ainsi, c’est pourquoi)

Unit 13: Expressing Hypothesis and Concession

• Advanced si clauses (imperfect → conditional; pluperfect → past conditional)

• Concession (bien que, quoique + subjunctive; même si + indicative)

• Opposition (alors que, tandis que, au lieu de)

• Expressing purpose (pour que, afin que + subjunctive; afin de/de + infinitive)

Unit 14: Structured Argumentation

• Organizing a spoken or written argument (d’abord, ensuite, enfin, en revanche, par conséquent)

• Nuanced opinions (il me semble que, je doute que + subjunctive)

• Passive voice and its alternatives (on + active, reflexive passive)

• Nominalization (transforming verbs into nouns)

Unit 15: Media, Culture, and Current Events

• Vocabulary for news, media, and politics

• Expressing certainty vs. uncertainty (il est certain que / il n’est pas sûr que)

• Reported speech in the past (il a dit que + tense backshift)

• Expressing time in complex contexts (avant que + subjunctive, après que + indicative)

Unit 16: Review and Synthesis for Advanced Expression

• Comprehensive review of indicative, conditional, and subjunctive moods

• Mastering negation in all tenses and moods

• Literary tenses (passé simple, passé antérieur) – recognition only

• Strategies for paraphrasing, summarizing, and rephrasing