Describing life at school in French

Part ofFrenchSchool and education

Key points about describing school life

Bullet points represented by lightbulbs
  • The is used to talk about things that happen regularly and is useful for describing the school day.

  • Reflexive verbs describe an action that you do to yourself and are useful for describing daily routine and the school day.

  • are used with reflexive verbs.

  • This guide contains a video as well as reading and listening practice.

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Video - Describing daily routine

Watch the video of Detchen describing her daily routine.

Detchen talks about her daily routine using reflexive and other verbs in the present tense

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Useful vocabulary - Describing daily routine and life at school

Useful verbs to use when talking about daily routine include:

FrenchEnglish
to arrive
to wear/carry
to get dressed
to go/come back
to get up
to eat

Useful verbs to use when talking about life at school include:

FrenchEnglishFrenchEnglish
, to learn/teach someoneto inspire
to chooseto forbid, ban
to understandto deserve
to becometo participate, take part in
to lastto take exams
to study + infinitive/nounto succeed in + verb/to pass (an exam)
to win/earn/gainto work

Useful nouns to use when talking about daily routine and life at school include:

FrenchEnglishFrenchEnglish
secondary schoolbreak, breaktime
(masculine, plural)course/lessons/teacher
(masculine, plural)homeworkresult
(masculine)pupil, studentclassroom
(masculine)examIT suite
lessonpitch, sports ground
college/sixth form (masculine)uniform
subject

Useful phrases to use when talking about travelling to and from school include:

FrenchEnglish
by bus
by coach
on foot
by train
by car
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Grammar - Regular verbs in the present tense in French

Female students playing netball
Image caption,
Verbs in French can be regular or irregular

In French, the present tense is used to talk about things that happen regularly or are happening now. For example:

- I eat/I am eating

The present tense can also be used with to refer to something that is happening in the future. For example:

Demain je joue au foot avec mes amis. - Tomorrow I am playing football with my friends.

Les examens commencent la semaine prochaine. - The exams start next week.

French has both regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs follow a set pattern while irregular verbs do not.

There are many more regular verbs than irregular verbs, but many of the irregular verbs are used often.

The three groups of regular verbs are named after their endings. They are known as er verbs, ir verbs and re verbs. For example:

- to arrive

- to succeed

- to hear

How to conjugate regular verbs

French verbs have different endings depending on who is doing the action. To form the present tense of regular verbs, take the ending off the infinitive and add the necessary endings for each person.

Female students playing netball
Image caption,
Verbs in French can be regular or irregular

Click or tap on the Show more button to find out how to regular er, ir and re verbs in the present tense.

Have a look at the Present tense regular verbs in French guide to find out more about conjugating verbs in French.

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Grammar - Reflexive verbs in the present tense

Reflexive verbs describe an action that you do to yourself or something that reflects back to yourself. They have to include a reflexive pronoun, which changes depending on who is doing the action.

Reflexive infinitives in French are easy to spot as they are preceded by the reflexive pronoun se, or s’ if the next letter is a vowel or silent h.

For example:

Demander means ‘to ask’, while the reflexive verb se demander means ‘to ask oneself’ or ‘to wonder’.

Have a look at the conjugation of the reflexive verb se lever (to get up) with the reflexive pronouns for the I, you (singular) and he/she/it forms in the singular only:

Subject pronounReflexive pronounConjugated verb formEnglish
jemelève I get up
tutelèvesyou get up
ilselève he gets up
elleselève she gets up
onselève one gets up/we get up

For example:

Je me lève à sept heures. – I get up at 7 o’clock.

Reflexive verbs that begin with a vowel or silent h

Before a reflexive verb that starts with a vowel or a silent h the reflexive pronoun changes. For example:

me becomes m'

te becomes t’

se becomes s’.

The infinitive se becomes s’.

Have a look at how the reflexive pronoun changes in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular with the verb s'habiiler (to get dressed):

Subject pronounReflexive pronounConjugated verb formEnglish
jem'habilleI get dressed
tut'habillesyou get dressed
ils'habillehe gets dressed
elles'habilleshe gets dressed
ons'habilleone gets dressed

For example:

Je m’habille à sept heures et demie. - I get dressed at 7.30 am.

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Reflexive verbs - Mini quiz

Test your knowledge of reflexive verbs in French with this mini quiz.

Press the purple START button when you are ready to start the activity.

Find out more about using reflexive verbs in the Reflexive verbs in French guide.

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Reading practice

An empty school sports hall
Image caption,
The school has a big sports hall

A French school has updated its details on its website. Read through the text from the website and answer the questions.

Ici, vous trouverez de l’information utile sur notre collège. Nous avons 950 étudiants, avec 50 professeurs et neuf personnes qui font l’administration.

Notre collège a 42 salles de classe qui ont été récemment modernisées. En plus, l’année dernière nous avons construit un grand terrain de sport et une nouvelle bibliothèque.

Les cours commencent à 8h30. Il y en a sept par jour et ils durent 50 minutes. À 10h35, il y a une pause de quinze minutes et à 12h30, c’est la pause-déjeuner qui dure quarante-cinq minutes.

Les cours se terminent à seize heures. Après les cours, nos élèves participent à un grand nombre de clubs culturels et sportifs. Il n’y a pas de cours le mercredi après-midi ni le samedi matin.

Tous nos étudiants font un minimum de quarante-cinq minutes de devoirs chaque soir. La discipline est stricte et le comportement de nos étudiants est excellent.

Hélène Benoit, principale du collège.

An empty school sports hall
Image caption,
The school has a big sports hall

Question 1

How many people are employed by the school in total?

Choose the correct option from the table below.

AThere are 50 staff at the school
BThere are 55 staff at the school
CThere are 59 staff at the school

Question 2

Choose the correct option from the table below.

AThe classrooms are all in the course of being modernised.
BThe classrooms have all recently been modernised.
CThe classrooms will all be modernised in the near future.

Question 3

What did the school build last year?

Choose the correct option from the table below.

AA sports pitch and a library.
BA sports pitch and a computer room.
CA sports pitch and a canteen.

Question 4

Choose the correct option from the table below.

AOn Wednesdays there is no school in the afternoon.
BOn Wednesdays there is no school in the morning.
COn Wednesdays there is no school.

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Vocabulary - Describing school routine

Useful phrases to describe life at school school include:

FrenchEnglish
Mon professeur préféré s’appelle…My favourite teacher is called…
Il y a 1 100 élèves dans mon collège.There are 1,100 students in my school.
Les profs sont très stricts.The teachers are very strict.
Les salles de classe sont modernes/anciennes.The classrooms are modern/old.
Il y a un grand terrain de sport.There is a big sports field.
Cette année, je vais passer mes examens. This year I am going to take my exams.

Useful phrases to describe the school day include:

FrenchEnglish
La journée scolaire commence à huit heures.The school day begins at eight o’clock.
Je vais au collège à pied/à vélo/en voiture.I go to school on foot/by bike/by car.
Je prends le bus/car/train pour aller au collège.I take the bus/coach/train to go to school.
La pause est à 10h 40.Break is at 10:40.
La pause déjeuner est à 12h30.The lunch break is at 12:30.
Chaque cours dure une heure.Each lesson lasts an hour.
Les cours finissent à 15h15.Lessons finish at 3:15.
Je rentre à la maison à 15h45.I get home at 3:45.

Useful phrases to describe school clubs include:

FrenchEnglish
Je fais partie du club de théâtre.I’m part of the drama club.
Il y a beaucoup de clubs différents au collège.There are lots of different clubs at school.
Il y des clubs culturels, comme les clubs de théâtre, de film, de danse et de musique.There are cultural clubs, such as theatre, film, dance and music clubs.
On peut faire partie des équipes sportives comme le foot, le rugby, le hockey et le netball.You can be part of sports teams such as football, rugby, hockey and netball.
Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde.There is something for everyone.

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

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Grammar - Irregular verbs in the present tense

Students walking into school with one student in a wheelchair
Image caption,
Many high frequency verbs in French are irregular

Many of the most common, high frequency verbs are irregular in the present tense including:

  • avoir - to have
  • être - to be
  • aller - to go
  • faire - to do / to make
  • venir - to come
  • écrire - to write
  • connaître - to know / to be familiar with
  • rire - to laugh
Students walking into school with one student in a wheelchair
Image caption,
Many high frequency verbs in French are irregular

Click or tap on the Show more button to revise how to conjugate the frequently used irregular verbs.

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Irregular verbs - Mini quiz

Icon representing a multiple-choice question with answers A, B and C

Choose the correct form of avoir to complete the following sentence:

Elle ____ beaucoup de devoirs ce soir.

She has a lot of homework tonight.

Choose the correct form of être to complete the following sentence:

Mes profs ____ très sympas.

My teachers are very nice.

Choose the correct form of aller to complete the following sentence:

On ___ au collège en autobus normalement.

We normally go to school by bus.

Choose the correct form of faire to complete the following sentence:

Nous _____ nos devoirs ce weekend.

We’re doing our homework this weekend.

Find out more about using irregular verbs in the Irregular verbs in the present tense in French guide.

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Listening practice

Listen to a podcast in which Emma is discussing her school life and complete the gap in each sentence using a word or phrase from the table.

There are more options than gaps.

Equalityexpensive08:15car60
practicalnetballbus08:3050
  1. To get to school Emma prefers to go by _______________ .

  2. Emma thinks her school uniform is _______________ .

  3. Lessons start at _______________ .

  4. Lesson last for _______________ minutes.

  5. Emma takes part in the _______________ club.

Click or tap on Show more to see the transcript and translation of what Emma says.

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Vocabulary sheet

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when talking about life at school.

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Higher Tier - Vocabulary - Life at school

Useful verbs for describing life at school include:

FrenchEnglish
conseillerto advise
enseigner (à … à + infinitive)to teach (someone + verb)
profiter de + nounto make the most of + noun, enjoy + noun
soutenirto support
terminerto finish

Useful nouns for describing life at school include:

FrenchEnglish
la bibliothèquelibrary
le comportementbehaviour
le concourscompetition
l’enseignement (m)teaching
l’emploi du temps (m)timetable
le harcèlement (m)bullying, harassment
le soutiensupport

Here is a useful phrase for describing life at school:

FrenchEnglish
On peut participer aux clubs qui soutiennent l’environnement ou l’égalité.You can participate in clubs that support the environment or equality.

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

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Higher Tier - Vocabulary sheet

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful Higher Tier vocabulary to use when talking about life at school.

Now you have revised the topic of life at school have a look at the Talking about future opportunities guide.

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