Replying to messages and emails in French involves reading a prompt and writing a structured response in clear, accurate target language. For an exam reply, follow the task's instructions and answer every required point in clear French.
Analysing the Task and Choosing the Register
Before drafting your reply, read every prompt carefully and highlight the required points. For a reply to a friend or exchange partner, use informal language.
Use tu with a friend, classmate, or peer, matching it with possessives like ton, ta, and tes. Use vous with an unfamiliar adult, a teacher, or several people. Follow the relationship shown in the message and keep your chosen register consistent.
Openings and Endings
- Informal (tu): Open with Salut [Name] ! or Cher / Chère [Name], and close with À bientôt !, À plus tard !, or Amitiés.
- Formal (vous): Open with Bonjour Monsieur / Madame, and close with Cordialement or Bonne journée.
Use an opening and ending suited to the message, sign where appropriate, and follow the specific instructions on the paper.
Turning Stimulus Prompts into Answers
Exam tasks test your ability to convert stimulus questions into direct statements. Take vocabulary directly from the prompt, adjusting pronouns, possessive adjectives, and verb endings:
| Incoming Prompt | Your Written Reply |
|---|---|
| Décris ta maison. | Ma maison est moderne et confortable. |
| Qu'est-ce que tu aimes manger ? | J'aime manger des crêpes et des pâtes. |
| Quelle est ta matière préférée ? Pourquoi ? | Ma matière préférée est l'histoire parce que c'est intéressant. |
| Tu viens chez moi ce soir ? | Je voudrais bien venir chez toi. |
To accept an invitation, write Avec plaisir ! or Je veux bien venir. To refuse politely, write Je suis désolé(e), mais je ne peux pas venir. Give a reason when asked why, or to explain a refusal, using the connector parce que or car: ... parce que j'ai un match.
Using Tenses Accurately
Use the tense each question needs rather than forcing every tense into every sentence. Prompts frequently combine past events, daily habits, and future arrangements.
- Passé composé (completed past events): With aller, the past participle matches the subject: je suis allé for a boy; je suis allée for a girl. Le week-end dernier, j'ai joué au foot et je suis allé(e) au cinéma avec mes amis.
- Present tense (habits and descriptions): Describe your routine, personality, or preferences. Tous les jours, je mange à la cantine et je retrouve mes copains.
- Futur proche (upcoming plans): Combine the present tense of aller with an infinitive to state future intentions. L'été prochain, je vais voyager en France avec ma famille.
When arranging meetings, state concrete times and places: On se retrouve devant le cinéma à dix-sept heures ?
Linking Sentences and Proofreading
Connect your ideas using common linking words: et (and), mais (but), aussi (also), donc (so), and parce que (because). These create flow and improve your expression mark.
Reserve two minutes at the end of the exam to proofread your response systematically:
- Check that you have written a clear, dedicated sentence for every single bullet point.
- Apply elision before words starting with a vowel or mute h (j'ai, l'école, qu'il).
- Verify subject-verb agreements (je vais, nous allons, ils sont).
- Check adjective agreements with feminine and plural nouns (une grande maison, des amis sympas).
- Leave a standard space before double punctuation marks (?, !, :).
Key terms
- Register
- The style of language suited to the reader: informal tu or polite vous.
- Tu / vous
- Tu means “you” for one friend or familiar person; vous addresses someone politely or more than one person.
- Connector
- A linking word used to join clauses and show relationships between ideas, such as mais, parce que, or donc.
- Passé composé
- The compound past tense used for completed actions, formed using a present auxiliary verb (avoir or être) and a past participle.
- Futur proche
- The near future tense formed with the present tense of aller followed by an infinitive verb.
- Elision
- Dropping the final vowel of a short word like je, ne, or que before a vowel sound and replacing it with an apostrophe (e.g. j'ai).
Check yourself
Which two French connectors mean 'because'?
Parce que and car.
How do you turn the prompt 'Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ?' into the beginning of an answer in the past tense?
Change 'tu as fait' to 'j'ai...' followed by your past participle (e.g. 'J'ai regardé...').
Why is 'je suis allé' written with an extra 'e' ('je suis allée') when written by a girl?
The past participle allé agrees with je here; a girl writes the feminine form allée.
Which French phrase politely declines an invitation?
Je suis désolé(e), mais je ne peux pas venir.