French Phrases: Talking about school and education in French
On this page, we'll look at some phrases for talking about school and
education in French. This page assumes that you're also familiar with
vocabulary for school subjects in French.
| j'étudie... | - | I'm studying... | | ... le français | - | ... French | | ... cinq matières | - | ... five subjects | | je prépare... | - | I'm studying for... | | ... mes examens | - | ... my exams | | ... mes examens 'GCSE' | - | ... my GCSEs | | ... mon brevet | - | ... my secondary school diploma (French exam roughly equivalent to GCSEs) | | ... mon bac | - | ... my baccalaureate (roughly equivalent to American SAT or British A-Levels) | | je fais... | - | I'm doing... | | j'ai cours là | - | I've got a lesson now | | j'ai cours de géo à quinze heures | - | I've got geography at 3 | | j'ai deux cours de ... par jour/semaine | - | I have two lessons of ... a day/week | | je suis en... | - | I'm in... | | ... sixième | - | ... first year of secondary/high school | | ... cinquième | - | ... second year of high school | | ... première | - | ... sixth year of high school (=UK "lower sixth") | | ... terminale | - | ... seventh year of high school (=UK "upper sixth") | | j'ai un devoir de français à faire | - | I've got some French homework to do | | j'ai trop de devoirs | - | I've got too much homework | | les (étudiants de) cinquième | - | =Year 8s, seventh-graders | | au programme | - | on the curriculum |
 Suggest a change / proposez une modificationNames of school years
In the French educational system, names of school years "count down", whereas in
the British and US systems, they generally "count up". This gives the following
rough equivalents. Note that formally, the full name of French school years
is classe de sixième (année) etc, but
class de and année is usually omitted in everyday speech.
| French year | UK equivalent | US equivalent |
|---|
| sixième | Year 7 ("first form") | sixth grade |
| cinquième | Year 8 ("second form") | seventh grade |
| quatrième | Year 9 ("third form") | eighth grade |
| troisième | Year 10 ("fourth form") | ninth grade |
| seconde | Year 11 ("fifth form") | tenth grade, sophomore |
| première | Year 12 ("lower sixth") | eleventh grade |
| terminale | Year 13 ("upper sixth") | twelfth grade |
Classroom activities and instructions
| lever la main | - | to put one's hand up | | poser une question | - | to ask a question | | écrivez ... | - | write down ... | | écoutez ... | - | listen to ... | | regardez ... | - | look at ..., watch ... | | regardez attentivement ... | - | look at ... closely | | lisez ... | - | read ... | | lisez attentivement ... | - | read ... carefully | | ...le texte | - | the text | | ...l'enregistrement | - | the recording | | ...la conversation | - | the conversation | | ...la vidéo | - | the video | | ...l'écran | - | the screen | | ouvrez ... | - | open ... | | ...votre cahier | - | ... your workbooks | | ...votre livre | - | ... your text)books | | ...le manuel | - | ... the textbook | | cochez la bonne réponse | - | tick the right answer | | je vais vous donner un devoir | - | I'm going to give you some homework | | c'est pour... | - | it's for... | | il faut le rendre... | - | you've to hand it in... | | ...demain | - | ...tomorrow | | ...la semaine prochaine | - | ...next week | | ...après les vacances | - | ...after the holidays | | allez, c'est parti! | - | come on, let's start! | | faites moins de bruit, s'il vous plaît! | - | quieten down, please! | | taisez-vous! | - | quiet! |
Suggest a change / proposez une modificationSee also:
Page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright (c) Javamex UK 2014. All rights reserved. |
