French Oral AS

Hi all!

My french oral's coming up soon and I'm just wondering if any of you have got any good ways of saying 'i think' apart from things like 'je pense' and 'je crois' and 'je dirais'... my teacher suggested 'je suis de l'opnion que' so any others like that would be good??

I just don't want to be repeating myself! :smile:

Thanks

p.s. any advice for not being nervous/ general tips would be good! :smile:

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Reply 1

tieyourmotherdown

Il me semble que (It seems to me that ...).
Selon moi (According to me/In my opinion).
Je considére que (I consider that ... - It translates oddly but we've been told it's fine)

If I think if any more I'll add them :smile:

Edit: You can also just say "Il semble que" (It seems that ...) without the 'to me', but that means you have to use the subjonctif. Likewise though getting a subjonctif in somewhere is always a good thing.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

Music22

Original post by tieyourmotherdown

Ahh thanks, those are really good! Will definitely have to remember them :smile:

When is your oral exam?

Reply 3

MadameBonheur

je suis d'avis que... - I think that...
je soutiens donc que... - I maintain that...
il est clair que... - it is clear that...
il est évident que... - it is obvious that...
il semblerait que... (+ subjonctif) - it seems like...
il se peut que (+ subjonctif)... - maybe...
à mon avis... - in my opinion...

Hope that's the kind of thing you're looking for. :smile:

I'll pop back and edit if any more spring to mind.

Good luck with your exam! :h:

Reply 4

koka-kola

also a bit of advice.

try to vary your sentence structures, that's where you make marks

so rather than "i think that something is something because of something" 15 times
use more complex language. the subjunctive is a good example of this and will definetly impress your examiner.

Reply 5

Music22

Original post by MadameBonheur

I'll pop back and edit if any more spring to mind.

Good luck with your exam! :h:

Ahh those are great too!!! :smile:

I really wouldn't have thought to use those! Guessing you're quite advanced at french aha? More than me anyways!!

Reply 6

Music22

Original post by koka-kola

Yeah I think that's my downfall at the moment, always saying the same thing :/ Especially 'these are the advantages and disadvantages'... any other ways of saying that? :smile:

Reply 7

tieyourmotherdown

Original post by Music22

Ahh thanks, those are really good! Will definitely have to remember them :smile:

When is your oral exam?

I've got my A2 oral in early May :s-smilie:

Fun stuff

Reply 8

Music22

Original post by tieyourmotherdown

I've got my A2 oral in early May :s-smilie:

Fun stuff

ahhhhh good luck!! :smile:

Don't suppose you know any other ways of saying also apart from the obvious 'aussi' when trying to make another point??

Reply 9

tieyourmotherdown

Original post by Music22

ahhhhh good luck!! :smile:

Don't suppose you know any other ways of saying also apart from the obvious 'aussi' when trying to make another point??

Likewise, good luck to you too :smile:

In terms of other ways of saying another point ...
Également (Equally ...)
Deuxiémement (Secondly ...), and Troisiémement etc.
D'autre part (On the other hand ...)
Néanmoins (Nevertheless ...)
En Plus (What's More/In Addition ...)

Reply 10

Music22

Original post by tieyourmotherdown

Likewise, good luck to you too :smile:

Thanks for the help! :smile:

Reply 11

Xurvi

Use synonyms dictionaries. Here's one for instance. Be careful though as the synonyms are very dependant on the context so not all of them are appropriate for your sentence.

Also, don't forget you can always rephrase: "X est un autre point important à prendre en considération" (X is another important point to consider) instead of "Aussi..." for instance. Likewise "n'oublions pas (non plus) que/il ne faut pas (non plus) oublier que" (let's not forget that), etc

Reply 12

olibishop

j'estime que is a nice synonym for croire/ penser que

il me frappe que

The best general advice I would give is just talk loads. IMO spontanaity/ fluency is more important than complex langauge etc but learning a few nice phrases like these is deffo a good idea

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 13

medbh4805

Do you use the book Mot a Mot? I would really recommend it as it has lots of synonyms and different ways of phrasing things. Its basically getting me through AS French (I have a not so good teacher :erm:

)

Reply 14

MadameBonheur

Original post by Music22

Ahh those are great too!!! :smile:

I really wouldn't have thought to use those! Guessing you're quite advanced at french aha? More than me anyways!!

Glad I could be of some help. :h:

I'm taking my A2 exam next month, but I'd say I'm far from "advanced", more like "panicking and trying to cram as many French linking phrases into my head as possible"! :p:

Also, I would second the above poster regarding 'Mot a Mot'. You can pick a copy up on Amazon for about £5 but the sheer amount of essay phrases in it definitely makes it worth it, in my opinion. :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 15

jackyblueyes

hello, i have my A.S oral tomorrow too and would say from what my teacher has said to simply use different structures and use the subjuctive tense and most other tenses atleast once but remember to not over complicate the conversation with hundreds of structures but to actually talk and use a few structures with a clearer sound to it would be better.. hope this helps

Reply 16

Music22

Original post by jackyblueyes

Thanks for the advice!! :smile:

We've only just learnt the subjunctive so am trying to learn a few set phrases!
How was your exam?

Reply 17

NickD

I had mine last Thursday and variety is definitely the key - I think it's best to try to start each answer off with a different starter phrase (or maybe something like 'c'est difficile à dire' before going into your answer), also I don't think using all the tenses is that important, especially if it detracts from the flow of the conversation, considering that 5 marks are given for relevance of answers and 10 for fluency

Reply 18

Music22

Original post by NickD

Ah yeah that's good to hear someone else saying that about the tenses, as I don't want to interrupt what I'm saying just to get another tense in!

What kind of starter phrases did you use?

Reply 19

jackyblueyes

Original post by Music22

Thanks for the advice!! :smile:

We've only just learnt the subjunctive so am trying to learn a few set phrases!
How was your exam?

im not going to lie, it was difficult but i spoke for all of the required time of ten minutes and hopefully i will get a good grade. my teacher said that she would be surprised if i dont get atleast a C. :smile: