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GCSE French Grade 9 phrases

Hi guys!

I thought it had been a while since there was a thread containing useful grade 9 phrases to use in exams, so I thought I would copy and paste what was discussed on other threads, although feel free to add to it.

I never did a proper gcse speaking as my year's exam was a bit weird but I can give you some advice from my a level structures that I think are plausible for gcse students.
Examiners adore 'Si' structures and there are different types you could look up. This seems to explain it decently well: https://ai.glossika.com/blog/conditi...and-si-clauses but if you don't get it you can find other websites/videos.
An example you could use within the vibes of your topic is:
"Si j'étais médecin, je pourrais aider beaucoup de personnes malades." = If I was a doctor, I could help lots of sick people

If you've learnt the subjunctive, I'm sure the examiners would love that but if you haven't, I wouldn't bother with it as it's too complicated to waste time on now.

Try to use lots of tenses. Since you're talking about the future in terms of career and not what you're doing next weekend, avoid using the near future (aller + infinitve) and use the proper future tense (j'irai, nous ferons etc). I would also try and slip some past tense in there eg:
"Il y a 2 ans, je voulais devenir acteur/actrice mais maintenant j'aimerais etre médecin." = 2 years ago, I wanted to become an actor but now I would like to be a doctor.

Use interesting opinion phrases: Je crois qu, je suis sur que, je suis convaincu que, il est évident que, selon moi, d'apres moi etc.

Use interesting negatives: ne...rien, ne...que, ne...aucun(e), ne...jamais eg:
"Je suis intéressé(e) par la politique mais je n'ai aucune envie de devenir politicien. Je ne veux que etre médecin." = I am interested in politics but I have no desire to become a politician. I only want to be a doctor.

One last thing, since your topic is your future aspirations. it's easy to fall into the trap of only using 'je' the whole time but please try and use other pronouns. Talk about would your parents want you to do in order to use 'ils'. Pretend some of your friends want to do the same career as you to say "Nous voulons tous devenir médecins".

Memorise high level vocab! Genuinely boosted my grade so much so like adding "Quelle dommage" or "Quelle reve" at the end of a sentence will make a huge difference. Ask your teacher for some high level phrases you can input into your speaking. You can also find other examples of high level vocab online on websites such as quizlet.

se vouloir + adjective - to want to be something
après avoir passé - having spent
on s'est bien amusé - we really enjoyed ourselves
toutes choses considerées - all things considered
je dirais que - I would say that
en avoir marre - to be fed up
s'ennuyer à mourir - to be bored to death (<_<)
je n'ai pas pu supporter - I could not stand
avouer - to admit

Force est de constater - One cannot help stating that
Il faut bien souligner - One must emphasise that
Il ne faut pas oublier - You must not forget that
Vouloir, c'est pouvoir - Where there's a will, there's a way
Quel que soit le prix - Whatever the price (...I would like to France next year)
Quoi qu'il en soit - Whatever the case (...I'll become a teacher)
En fin de compte - (conclusion phrase) When all is said and done / At the end of the day
Il faut avouer que - It must be admitted that
Le revers de la medaille, c'est que - The other side of the coin is that
Ce qui me frappe le plus, c'est que -What strikes me the most is that
Ce que je dis, en fait, c'est que - What I'm saying, in fact, is that
Dans l'ensemble - Overall
Quelle surprise! - What a surprise!
Quel dommage! - What a pity!

ca vaut le cout - It is worth the cost (it's worth it)
ca valait le cout - It was worth it
Au debut, je n'etais pas entierement convaincu que je voudrais y rester, mais eventuellement, j'ai commence a l'aimer - At first, i wasn't entirely convinced that I would like staying there, but eventually, i began to like it.
seul l'avenir nous le dira - only time will tell us
epoustouflante - breathtaking
Etant donne que - Given that
Vu que - Seeing that
Je l'ai appris a etre plus independant - It allowed me to learn to become more independant

Well, with the Higher French exam coming up tomorrow I thought this would be a cool little resource for us to scrape together a couple of impressive phrases to use in directed or short writing! Share your impressive phrases TSR!

My teacher has always really liked it when I used a subjunctive so I have a couple I can use quite flexibly.

-afin que je puisse....so that I can
Example: A l'avenir, j'aimerais travailler en France afin que je puisse améliorer mon francais et parce que j'adore la culture.

-C'était le *noun* le plus *adjective* que j'aie jamais vu...It was the most ____ that I have ever seen.
For example: C'était la chambre la plus confortable que j'aie jamais vu (It sounds quite silly, but markers love to see subjunctives!)

-Au début, je ne savais pas que faire, mais après la pensée d'un moment à laquelle j'ai décidé de... "At first I didn't know what to do, but after a moment's thought I decided to..." you can bend this to suit whatever you need!

-Je trouve que c'était une bonne expérience du point de vue linguistique..."I find that it was a good experience from a linguistic point of view"

A good conclusion for Directed Writing I find (as they tend to ask about "How has it benefited you?" or "Future intentions?" would be:

A mon avis, mon expérience en France m'a aidé à devenir plus indépendant et m'a aidé à parler un meilleur niveau de francais. A l'avenir j'aimerais travailler en France afin que je puisse continuer à améliorer mon francais.

My main phrase I use is "J'ai profité du beau temps et..." which means "I took advantage of the nice weather and..." and then add something like saw the sights or played volley ball on the beach etc.

Heres a brilliant one I use in every conclusion of directed writing:

du poit du vue linguistique j'ai eu du mal a comprendre la langue parce que j'ai trouve que les francais parlent trop vite.

... From a linguistic point of view, i had a difficulty understanding the language because I found that the French spoke too fast.

OR

Je preferais ne pas inviter un francais chez moi parce que j'ai pense que on n'avait rien en commun.

I would prefer not to invite a French person to my house as i felt we had nothing in common.

AND

Je recommanderais un sejour a l'etranger

I would recommend a stay abroad

RIght at the start of the essay, after you say ;eg:

" L'an dernier pendant les grandes vacances je suis alle en france pour.... etc "

After your first little intro i feel a great thing to say is :

" ... Mon prof de francais m'a demande d'ecrire un article sur mon sejour en france "

-.....My french teacher has asked me to write an article about my stay in france -

We used to say something about 'flaner dans les rue avec une bande des copains'. It means to 'drag about the streets', or just 'hang out'. (I think, it's been 2 years, I'm incredibly rusty.) All I can remember is that the French assistant was quite surprised when someone used it, but I'm not sure whether this is a good or bad thing..

Introduction
Tout d’abord – First of all
Premièrement – Firstly
Pour commencer – To start off with

Personal opinions
À mon avis / Selon moi – In my opinion
Pour ma part / En ce qui me concerne – As far as I’m concerned
À mon sens – As I see it
Il me semble que – It seems to me that
J’estime que – I consider that
Je soutiens que – I maintain that
Je suis d’avis que – I am of the opinion that
Je suis persuadé que – I am convinced that
Je pense / crois que – I think / believe that
Je dirais que – I would say that
J'imagine que – I imagine that
Ce que je dis, en fait, c'est que- What I am saying, in fact, is that
Ce qui me frappe le plus, c’est que – What strikes me the most is that

Impersonal expressions
Force est de constater que – One cannot help stating that
On pourrait aller même jusqu'à dire que – One could go so far as to say that
On ne peut pas s’empecher de penser que – One cannot help thinking that
Il est impossible d’ouvrir un journal sans lire que – It is impossible to open a newspaper without reading that
Il faut néanmoins nuancer cette affirmation en disant que – This claim should nevertheless be qualified by saying that
Il faut reconnaître que – One must recognise that
Qu'on ne s'y trompe pas en pensant que - Let's not trick ourselves into thinking that
Ce serait une erreur de croire que - It would be a mistake to believe that
Il serait vain de nier que – It would be pointless to deny that
Il faut bien souligner / préciser que – It must be emphasised that
Il faut donc rappeler que - It is therefore necessary to remember that
Il paraît donc évident que - It appears therefore clear that
Il ne faut pas oublier que - You must not forget that
Il faut avouer que – It must be admitted that
Qui peut s'opposer à ce point de vue? – Who might object to this view?

Sentence starters
Franchement – Frankly
Personnellement – Personally
En fait – In fact
À vrai dire – To tell the truth
Certes – Admittedly / Certainly / Indeed
Vraisemblablement – In all likelihood / In all probability
Heureusement – Fortunately
Malheureusement – Unfortunately
Par conséquent – Consequently / As a result
Tout simplement – Quite simply

Connectives
En outre / En plus de… / De plus / De surcroît (very formal) – Furthermore
Donc – Therefore
Cela expliquerait pourquoi - That would explain why
Cela revient à dire que – This boils down to saying that
Il va de soi que - It goes without saying that
C’est-à-dire – That is to say
Ceci dit – That having been said
Pour cette raison – For this reason
En d’autre termes / Autrement dit – In other words
D’une part / D’autre part – On the one hand / On the other hand
D'un côté / D’autre côté – On the one hand / On the other hand

Contrast
Le revers de la médaille, c’est que – The other side of the coin is that
Par contre / Au contraire – On the contrary
En revanche – On the other hand
Tandis que - Whereas
Cependant / Toutefois – However
Néanmoins – Nevertheless / Nonetheless
À l’inverse – Conversely / Alternatively / Instead
Pourtant – Yet

Synonyms to ‘parce que / car’ (because)
Puisque – Since / As
En raison de / Á cause de – Due to
Vu que – Seeing that / Seeing as
Étant donné que / Compte tenu du fait que – Given that
Grâce à – Thanks to

With regards to the situation / problem…
Vis-à-vis de ce problème – As for this problem / Face to face with this problem
La contrepartie des avantages considérables présentées est que – The downside to the considerable advantages offered is that
Bien qu’il faille reconnaître qu’il y a des avantages de (voyager, par exemple), on doit auissi reconnaître qu’il y a des inconvénients - Although one must recognise that there are advantages of (travelling, for example), one must also recognise that there are disadvantages
Malgré tous ces problèmes, le catastrophisme n'est pas de mise – Despite all these problems, it is not all gloom-and-doom
Sans vouloir critiquer cette façon de procéder, on peut constater que – Without wishing to criticise this course of action, it can be said that

Describing the situation / problem
Un véritable casse-tête - A real headache
Une question épineuse – A thorny question
Une situation inquiétante - A worrying situation
Un obstacle insurmontable - An unsurmountable obstacle
Une tâche quasiment impossible - A virtually impossible task

Short, snappy, idiomatic phrases
Quoi qu'il en soit – Whatever the case (I would like to go to university…)
Quoi qu’on fasse, on doit – Whatever you do, you must (help people…)
Quel que soit le prix – Whatever the price (I will go to France this year…)
Qu’on le veuille ou non – Whether you like it or not
Quel dommage! – What a pity!
Quelle surprise! – What a surprise!
Sans doute – Without a doubt
Vouloir, c’est pouvoir – Where there’s a will, there’s a way
Seul l’avenir nous le dira – Only time will tell us
Tout est bien qui finit bien – All is well that ends well

Subjunctive triggers
Bien que – Although / Even though
Il faut que – It is necessary that
Il est important que – It is important that
Il est nécessaire que – It is necessary that
Il est dommage que – It is a pity/shame that
Il semble que – It seems that
… avant que – before (the situation worsens, for example)
… pour que / afin que – so that (I can go to France, for example)
… à condition que – provided that (I get into university, for example)
Je ne pense / crois pas que – I do not think / believe that
Je n'imagine pas que – I do not imagine that
Je veux que – I want that
Je n’espère pas que – I do not hope that
Je suis surprise que – I am surprised that

Note: When the subjunctive trigger is used, change the ‘subject’. Don’t say: I don’t think that I can study French. Instead, say, I don’t think that he can / it is posible. If you want to say I don’t think that I…, then use ‘Je ne pense pas + infinitive’. So, ‘Je ne pense pas pouvoir étudier le français’ is I don’t think that I can study French.

Conclusive phrases
En guise de conclusion – By way of conclusion
En conclusion / Pour conclure – In conclusion / To conclude
Dans l’ensemble - Overall
En fin de compte – At the end of the day / When all is said and done
Tout bien réfléchi / considéré - All things considered
Toutes choses considérées, on peut déduire que – All things considered, we can deduce that
À tout prendre j'en viens à conclure que – Taking everything into account I come to the conclusion that
Tout semble indiquer que – Everything seems to indicate that

Here are some impressive French phrases and structures that you could use to impress your examiner:

"Non seulement... mais aussi..." (Not only... but also...)
For example: Non seulement j'aime lire des romans, mais aussi j'adore écrire des histoires. (Not only do I love reading novels, but I also adore writing stories.)

"En ce qui concerne..." (Regarding...)
For example: En ce qui concerne mes projets futurs, j'aimerais étudier les langues étrangères à l'université. (Regarding my future plans, I would like to study foreign languages at university.)

"D'une part... d'autre part..." (On one hand... on the other hand...)
For example: D'une part, j'aime sortir avec mes amis le soir, mais d'autre part, je suis souvent fatigué le lendemain matin. (On one hand, I enjoy going out with my friends in the evening, but on the other hand, I am often tired the next morning.)

"Il est indéniable que..." (It is undeniable that...)
For example: Il est indéniable que la technologie a changé nos vies de manière significative au cours des dernières années. (It is undeniable that technology has significantly changed our lives in recent years.)

"Cependant..." (However...)
For example: J'adore la cuisine italienne, cependant, je ne suis pas un grand fan de pizza. (I love Italian cuisine, however, I am not a big fan of pizza.)

tandis que (whereas) - this phrase requires the subjunctive (tandis qu'elle soit...)
en double tranchant (a double-edged sword) - I think that's the translation...I'd double check it.
selon un sondage (according to a survey)
à grâce de/à cause de (because of - the first one literally means 'thanks to')
tout bien considéré (all considered)
jettons un œil (let us cast an eye on...)
j'essayerai expliquer (I will try to explain)
tout d'abord (first of all)

'Il ne vaut pas le risqué du ruiner une amitie pour trouver l'amour' - It is not worth the risk of ruining friendship to find love
'je prefere sacrifice un ami a sacrifice l'amour' - I prefer to sacrifice a friend than sacrifice love (or you can do it the other way round)
'Le marriage gay va ameliorer l'image des homosexuelles dans la societe' - Gay marriage will improve the image of homosexuals in society
'Si les couples heterosexuels veulent montrer leur amour, pourqoi pas les couples du meme sexe?' - If heterosexual couples want to show their love, why not same sex couples?

If you want to use the subjunctive, here as some ready-made phrases for you!
- bien que ce soit... (Although it might be...)
- il faut que je sois (I have to be)
- Avant qu'on juge (Before one judges...)

Other good phrases are
- il me fait penser de (it makes me think of)
- j'ai le cafard (I'm in a bad mood)
- je vais y aller (I'm going to go there)