Write a Note...

What the Examiner Marks: Format, Weighting, and Word Count

In recent Higher Level papers, Section II (Written Production) accounts for 25% of your total examination marks. You are asked to answer Question 1 (about 90 words) plus one other question (about 75 words). An informal note, message, diary entry, or short informal email regularly appears among the 75-word choices.

The mark allocations split as follows:

• 90-word task: Communication 20 + Language 20 (40 marks)
• 75-word task: Communication 15 + Language 15 (30 marks)
• A formal task can be marked differently: a formal letter of motivation has carried separate marks for layout (Formule 6 + Communication 12 + Language 12), while a formal email has also appeared as Communication 15 + Language 15. Check the wording of the question you are answering.

An informal note has no separate marks for layout. Writing the day and time at the top (such as Samedi, 16 h 30) is good practice: it makes relative time expressions like dans deux heures or ce soir clear, and it makes the message feel real. However, layout alone earns no marks, so never spend three lines on decorative headings and run out of words before answering the final bullet point. Always check the exact task word on the paper:

• un mot or un message: a direct household note (brief greeting, points addressed, short sign-off).
• votre journal intime: a diary entry opening with Cher journal,, focusing on past tenses and personal feelings (j'étais ravi(e), j'avais peur).
• un courrier électronique: an informal email, where you include Objet : at the top and sign off with À bientôt or Bises.

Choosing and Maintaining Your Register: Tu versus Vous

Choosing the wrong register or slipping between registers is one of the commonest ways students lose language marks. Each inconsistent pronoun, verb ending, or possessive counts as an error.

Decide your register before writing a single word:

• Use tu (le tutoiement) for an exchange partner, a school friend, a brother or sister, or any peer of your own age.
• Use vous (le vouvoiement) when writing to an adult host mother or father (like Madame Moreau), an employer, a teacher, or the entire host family together.

Notice how switching register changes three distinct elements in a single sentence:

• Ne t'inquiète pas, je serai de retour avant ton match. (Peer: object pronoun t', imperative inquiète, possessive ton)
• Ne vous inquiétez pas, je serai de retour avant votre match. (Adult: object pronoun vous, imperative inquiétez, possessive votre)

Passing on a Phone Message: Vocabulary and Indirect Speech

Prompts frequently ask you to pass on a message left on an answering machine or taken from a visitor. You must state who got in touch, relay what they said, and convey how urgent it is.

Message and Phone Vocabulary

Relaying What Someone Said

When relaying a caller's words into indirect speech, link the clauses using que (or qu' before a vowel) and adjust pronouns and verb tenses:

• Direct: « Je suis à la gare et j'arriverai vers 18 h. »
• Indirect: Antoine a dit qu'il était à la gare et qu'il arriverait vers 18 h.

Antoine a dit qu'il arriverait follows the formal sequence of tenses (past reporting verb leads to the conditional). Antoine a dit qu'il arrivera is also natural French when the event is still in the future; the syllabus itself provides Martine a dit qu'elle arrive(ra) demain. Use whichever construction you can control accurately.

Relaying Instructions and Urgency

To report a request or order, use demander de or dire de followed by an infinitive:

• Elle m'a demandé de te dire de la rappeler. (She asked me to tell you to call her back.)
• Marc a dit de ne pas l'attendre pour le dîner. (Marc said not to wait for him for dinner.)
• Il faut le rappeler le plus tôt possible / dès que possible. (You must call him back as soon as possible.)

Explaining Where You Have Gone, and Why

Notes often begin with an apology and an explanation of why you had to rush out of the house. You need the passé composé to recount the trigger event, alongside accurate connectors.

Explaining Absences and Giving Excuses

• Je suis parti faire les courses au supermarché. (I have gone to do grocery shopping at the supermarket.)
• Mon ami Liam a un problème avec sa valise ; je file lui donner un coup de main. (My friend Liam has a problem with his suitcase; I am dashing off to lend him a hand.)
• Je suis allé chercher mon petit frère à la gare. (I went to collect my little brother from the station.)

When justifying yourself, distinguish between cause conjunctions and prepositions:

• Use parce que or car before a full clause (subject + conjugated verb): Je suis en retard parce que mon réveil n'a pas sonné.
• Use à cause de before a noun phrase: Le train a été retardé à cause de la grève. (de + les contracts to des : à cause des embouteillages).

Agreeing the Past Participle with Yourself

You write in the first person as yourself. A female candidate must add an -e to past participles conjugated with être and to predicative adjectives; a male candidate must not:

• Female writer: Je suis désolée d'être partie si vite.
• Male writer: Je suis désolé d'être parti si vite.

Brackets like (e) are study aids only. Never write brackets on your exam script.

Time Prepositions: Dans, Pendant, and Il y a

Candidates frequently confuse these three time words:

• Use dans for a point in future time: Je rentre dans une heure. (I will be back in an hour's time.)
• Use pendant for duration: Je vais étudier à la bibliothèque pendant deux heures. (I am going to study in the library for two hours.)
• Use il y a for time elapsed in the past: Sophie a téléphoné il y a une heure. (Sophie phoned an hour ago.)

Leaving Domestic Instructions: The Imperative

When telling someone to feed a pet or lock up, use the imperative:

• Regular -er verbs (and aller) drop the final -s in the tu form: Ferme la porte. / Regarde dans le frigo. / Va chercher le pain.
• The vous form keeps the standard -ez ending: Fermez la porte. / Regardez dans le frigo.
• Exception: The dropped -s returns before the pronouns y and en to assist pronunciation: Vas-y ! / Penses-y ! / Manges-en un peu !
• A polite alternative that avoids the imperative entirely is Merci de + infinitive: Merci de fermer la porte à clé. (Please lock the door.) This works safely in both tu and vous registers.

Making, Cancelling, and Altering Plans

When changing or cancelling arrangements, state the disruption clearly, offer an alternative, and ask for a quick confirmation.

Cancelling and Rescheduling

• Je suis navré, mais je dois annuler notre sortie de cet après-midi. (I am terribly sorry, but I have to cancel our outing this afternoon.)
• J'ai un imprévu. (I have had something unexpected come up.)
• Est-ce qu'on pourrait reporter notre rendez-vous à demain ? (Could we postpone our meeting until tomorrow?)
• Ça te dirait d'aller plutôt au cinéma samedi ? (Would you fancy going to the cinema on Saturday instead?)

Offering, Promising, and Reassuring

• Si tu veux, je peux passer chez toi demain. (If you like, I can call round to your house tomorrow.)
• Je te promets de te rendre ton livre vendredi. (I promise to return your book on Friday.)
• Ne t'inquiète pas, je m'occuperai de tout. (Don't worry, I'll take care of everything.)
• Je ferai la vaisselle en rentrant, c'est promis. (I'll do the washing-up when I get in, I promise.)
• Je compte sur toi. (I am counting on you.)

Future Tense after Quand and Dès que versus Si

After quand, dès que, and aussitôt que, French uses the future tense where English uses the present:

• Rappelle-moi dès que tu rentreras. (Call me back as soon as you get home.)
• Je te téléphonerai quand j'arriverai à la gare. (I will ring you when I arrive at the station.)

After si meaning 'if', never use the future. For a real possibility, use si + present with a future (or conditional) main clause:

• Si tu es libre, on ira au cinéma. (If you are free, we will go to the cinema.)

For a hypothetical situation, use si + imperfect with the conditional:

• Si tu étais libre, on pourrait sortir. (If you were free, we could go out.)

Asking Questions and Inviting a Reply

Make sure your note invites a response if the prompt requires it:

• Informal intonation: Tu peux me répondre ce soir ?
• Standard est-ce que: Est-ce que tu peux nourrir le chat ?
• Polite conditional inversion: Pourriez-vous me prévenir avant six heures ?
• Natural closing requests: Réponds-moi dès que tu peux. / Tiens-moi au courant. / Dis-moi si cela te convient.

Key terms

un mot / un petit mot

A brief written note or informal message left for a housemate, friend, or host parent.

le registre

The level of formality in communication, requiring a strict choice between 'tu' (informal peer) and 'vous' (polite adult or collective).

le tutoiement

Addressing someone as 'tu', with the matching pronouns 'te / t'' and possessives 'ton, ta, tes'.

le vouvoiement

Addressing one adult respectfully or addressing a group using 'vous', 'votre', and 'vos'.

le répondeur

An answering machine or voicemail service (e.g. 'laisser un message sur le répondeur').

de la part de

A set phrase meaning 'from' or 'on behalf of' when identifying who phoned or left a message.

rappeler

To call back on the phone (e.g. 'Rappelle-moi' / 'Rappelez-la').

un imprévu

An unexpected event or complication that arises suddenly and excuses a change of plan.

reporter / remettre à

To postpone or reschedule an appointment to a later time or date.

être de retour

A set phrase meaning 'to be back' (e.g. 'Je serai de retour vers 18 h').

un double des clés

A spare set of keys.

le plus tôt possible / dès que possible

Set phrases meaning 'as soon as possible', used to convey urgency when relaying messages.