Describing celebrities in French

• Ask questions about celebrities by changing the intonation of your voice, switching the subject and the verb or using question words.

• Use comparative adjectives to compare celebrities.

• Higher Tier - use superlative adjectives to say something is the most or least compared to other things.

• This guide contains reading and listening practice.

Useful vocabulary for describing celebrity careers.

For example:

Ma célébrité préférée, c’est une chanteuse et femme d’affaires qui s’appelle… - My favourite celebrity is a singer and businesswoman who is called …

J’aime beaucoup… qui est footballeur. - I really like … who is a footballer.

Nous suivons plusieurs influenceurs, comme…, sur les réseaux sociaux. - We follow several influencers, like…, on social media.

Did you know?

Some French words are cognates - these are words which look and sound similar to English words and have the same meaning. For example:

• un bloggeur/une bloggeuse – blogger

• un footballeur/une footballeuse – footballer

• un gameur/une gameuse - gamer

• un vloggeur/une vloggeuse - vlogger

Useful phrases for describing celebrity activities include:

For example:

Il joue pour l’équipe de France et partage sa vie en ligne. - He plays for the French team and shares his life online.

Elle écrit un blog et crée des vidéos amusantes. - She writes a blog and creates funny videos.

There are several ways to form questions in French.

Asking 'yes' or 'no' questions

When asking questions to which the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’, use one of the following ways:

1. Keep the word order the same as a statement, and add a question mark. When asking a question when speaking, you need to change the intonation of your voice to have a questioning tone.

For example:

Tu aimes lire des blogs? – You like reading blogs?

Vous allez regarder le match ce soir? – You going to watch the match this evening?

2. Add Est-ce que to the start of the question and keep the word order the same as a statement.

For example:

Est-ce que vous avez vu sa vidéo? – Have you seen her video?

Est-ce qu’on va regarder le concours? – Are we going to go to watch the competition?

3. Switch the verb and the subject at the start of the question. Remember to add a hyphen between the verb and the subject pronoun when writing. If the verb ends with a vowel and the subject pronoun starts with a vowel (il, elle or on), add -t- between them.

For example:

Suivez-vous des influenceurs? – Do you follow any influencers?

A-t-il un acteur préféré? – Does he have a favourite actor?

Forming questions with question words

The most useful question words in French are:

Put the question word at the start of the sentence and switch the verb and subject around.

For example:

Où habites-tu? – Where do you live?

Or use est-ce que between the question word and the subject.

For example:

Où est-ce que tu habites? – Where do you live?

In spoken and informal French, most question words can also go at the end.

For example:

Tu habites où? – Where do you live?

Choose the correct word to complete the following sentences. Press Start to begin the activity.

Find out more about asking questions in the Asking questions in French guide.

Read this interview with a new celebrity and complete the statements below.

Interviewer: Vous avez connu un énorme succès l’année dernière. Félicitations ! Comment avez-vous commencé votre carrière ?

Celebrity: J’ai toujours chanté – ça fait partie de ma vie. Cependant, c’était seulement quand j’ai partagé des vidéos sur des réseaux sociaux que les gens m’ont remarqué. Je crois que j’ai vraiment eu de la chance !

Interviewer: Où avez-vous appris les compétences nécessaires ?

Celebrity: Je n’ai jamais reçu de leçons car on n’avait pas beaucoup d’argent. Chez moi, nous écoutions toujours beaucoup de genres de musique. Comme ça, mes groupes et mes chanteurs préférés m’ont beaucoup enseigné*.

Interviewer: Qu’est-ce que vous allez faire cette année ?

Celebrity: Je vais continuer d’écrire des chansons mais je veux aussi réaliser mon rêve d’entrer dans le monde de la mode. Je voudrais lancer* une collection de vêtements pour les hommes.

*enseigné - taught

*lancer – to launch

Useful vocabulary to describe the physical appearance of celebrities includes:

For example:

Mon actrice préférée est jolie et elle a les yeux bleus. - My favourite actress is pretty and she has blue eyes.

Il est écrivain et il a les cheveux blancs. - He’s a writer and he has white hair.

All Foundation Tier vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

To compare two nouns, use the comparatives plus … que (more … than), moins … que (less … than) or aussi … que (as … as).

For example:

Cet acteur est plus amusant que son mari. – That actor is more amusing than his husband.

Ton équipe est moins paresseuse que mon équipe – Your team is less lazy than my team.

Les blogs sont aussi populaires que les journaux. – Blogs are as popular as newspapers.

Remember

Adjectives need to agree with the first noun that is being compared. For example

Ma sœur est plus bavarde que moi. – My sister is more talkative than me.

Sœur (sister) is feminine and singular, so bavarde needs to end in e.

‘Better’ and ‘worse’ are irregular comparatives:

bon (good) → meilleur (better)

mauvais (bad) → pire (worse)

For example:

La chanson était meilleur en concert. – The song was better live / in concert.

Ce groupe de musique est pire que l’année dernière. – This band is worse than last year.

To find more about comparative adjectives have a look at the Comparatives and superlatives in French guide.

Listen to four people talking about celebrities and decide is each person's opinion is positive, negative or both positive and negative.

Click or tap on Start to begin the activity.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when describing celebrities.

Useful vocabulary includes:

All vocabulary listed in this guide can be found on the vocabulary sheet below.

Use superlatives to say something is 'the most' or 'the least' 'interesting/exciting', 'the biggest/smallest' or 'the best/worst', and so on.

In French, use the definite article, (le/la/les) then plus or moins. The adjective must still agree with the noun.

For example, the superlatives of intéressant are:

Irregular superlatives

‘Best’ and ‘worst’ are irregular superlatives in French.

For example:

Elle est la meilleure footballeuse dans l’équipe. – She’s the best football player in the team.

C’était le pire moment de l’année. – It was the worst time of the year.

Ce sont les meilleures danseurs au monde. – They are the best dancers in the world.

To find more about superlative adjectives have a look at the Comparatives and superlatives in French guide.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of Higher Tier useful vocabulary to use when describing celebrities.

Now you have practised the key vocabulary and grammar needed for talking about illnesses and health conditions, why not have a look at the Describing countries and their features in French guide?