Describing religious festivals and celebrations in French

• The ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’ forms of the verb are useful for describing how people celebrate religious festivals.

• Use the ‘on’ form of the verb to mean ‘we’, ‘one’ or ‘they’ when describing the actions of other people.

• Adverbs describe verbs or adjectivesand are useful for giving more detail about where, when or how something is done.

• This guide contains reading and listening practice.

Useful vocabulary to describe different cultural and religious celebrations.

Cultural events

For example:

J’aime envoyer des cartes de Saint Valentin le 14 février car c’est amusant ! - I like sending Valentine’s Day cards on 14 February because it’s fun!

En France, on célèbre la Fête Nationale le 14 juillet – c’est un événement historique. - In France, they celebrate Bastille Day on 14 July – it’s an historical event.

Religious celebrations

Remember

To say the date that something takes place, you don’t need a French word to translate ‘on’.

For example:

Le jour de Noël, c’est le 25 décembre. - Christmas Day is on 25 December.

Use the il/elle/on (he/she/we) forms to talk about what he/she does or is doing or what we do or are doing.

For example:

Il mange trop de chocolat à Pâcques. - He eats too much chocolate at Easter.

Elle aime les fêtes traditionnelles. - She likes traditional festivals.

On célèbre toujours le Nouvel An ensemble. - We always celebrate New Year together.

The on form is really useful as it can be used to mean ‘we’, ‘one’ or ‘they’ (in the sense of people generally).

For example:

Dans ma famille, on profite des jour fériés. - In my family, we make the most of bank holidays.

Use the ils/elles forms of verbs to talk about what 'they' do or are doing.

For example:

Ils vont au festival chaque année. - They go to the festival every year.

Elles préparent pour un événement religieux. - They are preparing for a religious event.

Remember that the present tense in French can also translate as ‘do’ or ‘are doing’ in English, depending on the context.

For example:

For example:

Elle mange du gâteau parce que c'est son anniversaire. - She is eating because it is her birthday.

Il va au festival de musique avec ses amis. - He is going to a music festival with his friends.

Elles font une promenade à la campagne car c'est un jour férié. - They are going for a walk in the countryside as it is a bank holiday.

Read the descriptions below and decide which of the following festivals is being discussed by each person.

A. Christmas

B. Valentine's Day

C. Easter

D. Bastille Day

E. New Year's Day

There is one option too many.

Useful vocabulary for describing how religious and cultural events are celebrated.

Places

For example:

Pour célébrer l’Aïd, on prie à la mosquée et on donne des cadeaux aux enfants. – To celebrate Eid, we pray at the mosque and give presents to children.

Tous les vendredis, on mange un repas spécial ensemble et tous les samedis, on va à la synagogue. – Every Friday, we eat a special meal together and every Saturday, we go to the synagogue.

Activities

For example:

Pour le carnaval, nous dansons dans la rue et après, il y a des feux d’artifices. – For the carnival, we dance in the streets and afterwards, there are fireworks.

Remember

Une fête has two meanings:

• festival

• party

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

Adverbs describe a verb or adjective, giving information about where, when or how something is done.

To make an adverb, take the feminine singular form of an adjective and add ment.

For example:

• finale (feminine singular of final, meaning final) becomes finalement (finally).

If an adjective ends in a vowel, use the masculine form and add ment.

Fo example:

• vrai (real) becomes vraiment (really)

If an adjective ends in ent, remove the ending and add emment.

For example:

• récent (recent) becomes récemment (recently)

If an adjective ends in ant, remove the ending and add amment.

For example:

• étonnant (surprising, amazing, incredible) becomes étonamment (surprisingly, amazingly, incredibly)

The following adjectives are irregular when they become adverbs. Instead of adding ment, they become new words. For example;

• bon (good) becomes bien (well)

• mauvais (bad) becomes mal (badly)

• meilleur (better) becomes mieux (better)

For example:

Il chante bien. - He sings well.

Hier, il a mal chanté parce qu’il était malade. - Yesterday, he sang badly because he was ill.

J’espère qu’il va mieux chanter demain. - I hope he will sing better tomorrow.

To give more information about when or how often something happened or is happening, use an adverb of time or frequency. These inlcude:

Use an adverb of place to add information about where something happened or is happening. These include:

Choose the adverb that is the odd one out from each set of options.

Press Start to begin the activity.

Find out more about using adverbs in the Adverbs in French guide.

Listen to Anaïs, Tosin and Alex talking about customs and festivals and choose the correct option to answer the questions.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when describing religious festivals and celebrations.

Useful vocabulary for talking about religious festivals and celebrations includes:

For example:

En France, on célèbre la Fête des Rois. - In France, they celebrate the Festival of the Kings.

Did you know?

Epiphany (6 January) is known in France as la Fête des Rois - the Festival of the Kings.

Bakeries sell a cake called une Galette des Rois (a King’s Cake), which contains a hidden charm.

Whoever receives the piece of cake with the charm in it, becomes the king or queen for the day, and wears a cardboard crown.

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

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

Now you have revised the important vocabulary and key grammar points for describing religious festivals and celebrations, why not try have a look at the Describing issues in society and possible solutions guide?