Describing entertainment in French

• Direct object pronouns replace the object of the sentence and are used to talk about something without repeating the noun.

• The regular re verb entendre, meaning 'to hear', is useful in different tenses when talking about entertainment such as music.

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

Useful phrases for talking about music include:

Useful phrases for talking about viewing habits include:

Remember

The French word for a TV programme is une émission.

The French word un programme means ‘a schedule’.

Useful phrases for talking about gaming include:

Direct object pronouns replace the object of the sentence and are used to talk about something without repeating the noun.

For example:

‘I’m watching it’ instead of ‘I’m watching the film’.

The singular direct object pronouns in French are:

For example:

J’adore ce film. Je veux le regarder encore une fois. - I love this film. I want to watch it again.

Nous la suivons sur les réseaux sociaux. - We follow her on social media.

Remember

When the direct object pronouns me and te come before a vowel or silent ‘h’, they are shortened to m’ and t’.

The direct object pronouns le and la both become l’ in front of a vowel or silent ‘h’.

The position of direct object pronouns depends on which tense the sentence is in.

Present and imperfect tenses

In the present and imperfect tenses, the direct object pronoun comes between the subject and the verb.

For example:

Je n’aime pas cette chanson. En fait, je la déteste. - I don’t like this song. In fact, I hate it.

Une chanson is feminine, so you need to use la to mean ‘it’.

When the direct object pronouns le and la come before a vowel or ‘h’, always use l’, regardless of whether the noun you are referring to is feminine or masculine.

Immediate future and modal verbs

In the immediate future (using aller followed by an infinitive) or after a modal verb followed by an infinitive, the direct object pronoun comes just before the infinitive.

For example:

La nouvelle bande dessinée est super. Vous pouvez l’acheter demain. - The new comic book is great. You can buy it tomorrow.

Perfect tense

In the perfect tense, the pronoun goes before the auxiliary verb verb.

For example:

Nous vous avons attendu devant le cinéma. - We waited for you in front of the cinema.

Choose the correct direct object pronoun to complete each sentence.

Press Start to begin the activity.

Find out more about using direct object pronouns in the Direct object pronouns in French guide.

Listen to the podcast extract and decide which type of entertainment each person is talking about from the options shown.

Here are some phrases to describe different types of entertainment including the cinema, theatre, musical and sporting events.

Cinema

Theatre

Concerts and festivals

Sporting events

Did you know?

The Tour de France is the world's biggest annual sporting event. Normally held in July, the event sees nearly 200 cyclists race over 2,000 miles in approximately three weeks.

The Tour Féminin is the equivalent women's race, and features approximately 150 riders over eight stages.

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

The verb entendre (to hear) is a regular re verb. It is important to know how to conjugate it in the present, perfect and imperfect tenses.

This will also help you use other regular re verbs which follow the same pattern including:

• descendre - to go down

• vendre -to sell

• perdre - to lose

• attendre - to wait

Examples of other regular re verbs which follow this pattern include:

Il attend le prochain concert. - He is waiting for the next concert.

Notre équipe a perdu le match. - Our team lost the match.

J’ai vendu des tickets pour notre spectacle. - I sold some tickets for our show.

On attendait jusqu’à la fin du film. - We used to wait until the end of the film.

Read Chloé's concert review and answer the questions in English.

Le mois dernier, j’ai entendu sur les réseaux sociaux que mon chanteur préféré allait faire un concert en ville. Il n’y avait plus de billets disponibles en ligne mais mes cousins m’ont vendu leurs billets.

Hier soir, je suis allée au concert avec mon petit copain. On est descendu tout près de la scène donc j’étais très contente de nos places.

La scène et les lumières étaient simples, sans danseurs. J’ai bien aimé ça parce que le chanteur était vraiment au cœur du spectacle.

À la fin, j’ai perdu mon petit copain parmi tous les gens mais il m’a envoyé un SMS. Cependant, j’ai adoré la musique et ce concert a été une des meilleures soirées de ma vie.

Watch a short video of Calvin, a Chelsea Football Club apprentice, talking about what he enjoys doing and answer the question.

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when describing entertainment in French

Useful vocabulary for talking about entertainment includes:

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

The plural direct object pronouns are nous (us), vous (you, plural) and les (them).

For example:

Je regarde les vidéos de cuisine. Je les adore ! - I watch cookery videos. I love them!

Je vous vois dans le jeu. - I can see you (group of people) in the game.

The imperfect tense for regular er verbs in the nous, vous, ils and elles forms are:

Find out more about the plural forms of the imperfect tense in the imperfect tense in French guide.

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

Now you have revised the key vocabulary and grammar for describing entertainment, why not have a look at the Describing free time activities in French guide.