Describing social activities in French

• The irregular verb aller (to go) is one of the most used verbs in French.

• Aller is useful to talk about travel and transport in the present, past and future tenses.

• Time phrases help to determine what tense the action takes place in.

• There are four different ways of asking questions in French.

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

Watch the video of Adnane describing the personal and social activities he enjoys doing.

Useful verbs to describe going out with friends and family and activities you may do include:

For example:

Nous allons au cinéma en famille environ une fois par mois. - We go to the cinema as a family about once a month.

Je vais aller à un concert avec mes amis bientôt. - I am going to go to a concert with my friends soon.

Remember

You can use these verbs in different time frames to talk about what you normally do, what you have done recently and what you are going to do in future. For example:

Normalement, le weekend, je vais en ville pour faire les magasins avec mes copines. - Normally, at the weekend, I go into town to go shopping with my friends.

Le weekend dernier, je suis allée à un concert. - Last weekend, I went to a concert.

Le weekend prochain, je vais regarder un match de foot avec ma famille. - Next weekend, I am going to watch a football match with my family.

One of the most commonly used verbs in French is the verb aller (to go). It is (irregular) verb, which means it does not follow the regular pattern of other verbs. It has to be learned separately.

This is how to conjugatealler in the three most common tenses:

You hear a radio programme in which young people are discussing what they do in their free time. Listen to each extract and choose the answers to the questions below.

Useful sentences and questions to help you make social arrangements with friends or family include:

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

There are several ways of forming questions with question words in French:

Asking 'yes' and 'no' questions

There are three ways of asking 'yes' and 'no' questions.

1. Keep the word order the same as a statement, and add a question mark. You need to change the intonation of your voice to make it sound like a question.

For example:

Tu aimes aller aux concerts ? – Do you like going to concerts?

Vous allez regarder le match ce soir ? – Are 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 ce film ? - Have you seen this film?

Est-ce qu’on va aller à la piscine ? - Are we going to go to the swimming pool?

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:

Allez-vous sortir ce soir ? - Are you going to go out tonight?

A-t-il les billets ? - Does he have the tickets?

Asking questions with question words

Questions words in French include:

For example:

Pourquoi aimes-tu aller à la piscine ? – Why do you like going to the swimming pool?

Quand est-ce que nous allons au restaurant ? – When are we going to the restaurant?

Asking questions using declarative sentences

You can ask questions by making a declaration and changing the intonation of your voice so that it sounds like a question.

You can also use je peux (I can) plus an infinitive to ask a declarative question.

For example:

Nous allons au match de foot cet après-midi ? – Are we going to the football match this afternoon?

Je peux aller au festival cet été ? – Can I go to festival this summer?

Asking questions by inverting the noun and the subject

If the sentence has a subject in it, you can also ask a question by inverting the order of the subject and the verb, and putting a hyphen between them.

For example:

Vas-tu au parc ? - Are you going to the park?

Allez-vous au restaurant demain ? - Are you (plural informal) going to the restaurant tomorrow?

Did you know?

In written French, question marks always have a space before them. For example:

Aimes-tu les fraises ? - Do you like strawberries?

Find out more about how to form questions with the Asking questions in French guide.

Read these messages inviting friends to go out and answer the questions below.

A. Veux-tu regarder un film demain soir avec moi et ma sœur ? Rendez-vous devant le cinéma à sept heures et demie.

B. J’ai acheté deux billets pour le spectacle ce weekend. Est-ce que tu es libre ? Il va commencer à deux heures, samedi après-midi.

C. Je voudrais regarder le match le mois prochain mais les billets pour aller au stade sont trop chers. Est-ce qu’on peut le regarder ensemble à la télé chez moi ?

D. Nous allons aller à la fête d’anniversaire de Sara, vendredi. Comment est-ce qu’on va rentrer après ?

Click or tap on the image below for a list of useful vocabulary to use when talking about social activities.

Useful Higher Tier vocabulary related to social activities includes:

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

Now you have revised the important vocabulary and key grammar points for describing social activities why not why not have a look at the Describing the local area guide