French Grammar
Instructor
Euclide Solutions
Category
French Grammar
Common Phrases Aide Memoire
This section will list common phrases seen on the test and in government writing. Note that the verbs are not conjugated but will appear in many conjugated forms.
| Phrase | Translation | Applicable Tricks |
| Il fait foid/chaud | It is cold/hot outside | In French this is just a common phrase to memorize |
| Ternir compte | To take into account | |
| Reporter | To delay | Don’t confuse this verb with one involved with reporting. It means to delay and the tests will try to trick you with this |
| Afin de | In order to | |
| Une vaste gamme | A wide range | Vaste and gamme will often be spelled wrong. |
| Vu que | Given that, since | |
| Tout juste
Je viens tout juste de |
Barely, done right away, just came from doing. This can be replaced by venir de… | |
| Dés que possible | As soon as possible | |
| Faire connaitre | To become better known | |
| Quel que soit | No matter what, whatever | This phrase is seen with quelque, quel qu’un to try to confuse the reader |
| Aussi que | Also, also that, as well as | Test writers will try to give you the wrong phrase to be confused with this phrase |
| Toutefois | However, Nevertheless | This is a good phrase that is seen in the written exams but is also good to use when speaking as it shows a deeper understanding of sentence structure to the examiner. |
| Néanmoins | Nevertheless | Like toutefois, this works well in conversation and is occasionally seen in writing. |
| De faire le point | To review, stake stock of, make a note of | The trick here is that de could be written as à, le as la, and point as pointe. |
| Etre en mesure de | To be able to | Mesure is never plural and will appear such on occasion |
| Lignes directrices | Guidelines | Lignes is feminine plural so directrices needs to be written in the feminine plural |
| Au besoin | If needed, as needed | Exam writers will replace “au” with another preposition such as “pour” or “par” which tricks anglophones who think “pour” should be used as in “for assistance” or “if needed”. |
| Tout en
Tout en fournissant… |
All in | This is a tricky phrase because it is followed by a gerund (-ing word) translating for example to:” …all in supplying the necessary materials.” All in is followed by an -ing word |
| Produits chimiques | Chemicals | The trick is ensuring that produits accompanies chimiques. This is also a difference between English and French translation |
| Afin que | So that | |
| Tout à l’heure | Just now | |
| Faire parvenir | To send | |
| La mise sur pied | The set up or implementation | |
| Année financiere | Financial year | The trick here is that the test writers will try to get you to think fiscale as opposed to financiere. |
| Tandis que | Whereas | Many questions on the tests will have “starter words” at the beginning of the sentence such as whereas, since, given that, etc. Ensure that you understand those in this list so you will know which ones to insert in the right phrases. |
| Faire le point | To review or summarize | This phrase can often have the words out of order. |
| Collaborer
Une collaboration |
To cooperate | Don’t confuse collaboration with cooperation in English. Collaboration in French is the term to use for cooperation |
| En tant que tel/telle | As such… | The exam writers will often change the masculine and feminine tel or telle. The tel or telle will refer back to something masculine or feminine earlier in the phrase |
| Ainsi que | As well as, together with | This phrase will be used with other conjunctions that join phrases. The test writers will try to confuse it with other conjunctions. |
| Chez | This is an expression that means doing something at or going to someone’s place. There is no English translation. The best translation would be “at home,” “at the doctor”, etc. | The test takers will insert a phrase about doing something at someone’s place such as the doctor, dentist, or a home. As soon as you see something happening at these or similar locations, consider chez. Don’t use au, à la, sur, or dans as these are tricks. |
| Auparavant | Previously or in times past | This is a good word to know for the oral exam. You could say “Previously, I lived in France…” You will see it in some written contexts. |
| Tant et aussi longtemps que | As long as | This is a rare phrase but can show up |
| En ce qui concerne | As it concerns, to whom it concerns | This phrase will appear in several forms from testing your knowledge of qui to being used to open a sentence. |
| Toutefois | Nevertheless, however | |
| Travaux publics | Public works | The trick here is that the exam writers will write publique or publiques which is the feminine form of the word and not the general name of the department which is masculine. |
| Fonction publique | Public service as in the body of government workers | The trick here is that since function is feminine, the publique needs to be the feminine form. The writers will often write public which is the masculine form. Related to this is the phrase: du secteur public federal which is masculine. |
| Résoudre le problème | To solve the problem | There are several tricks with this expression. First is changing le to la which can also be seen anytime problème is found. Second is changing the verb to make a word that sounds like an English word. |
| À la suite de | Following or subsequent to | There are two tricks here. First is changing à to another preposition. Second is changing de to another preposition. |
| Les politiques et les normes | Policies and standards | Both of these are feminine |
| Combien de temps | How long | This is often preceded by Depuis in order to ask “For how long…”. It should not be confused with longtemps which is “long time”. |
| En tant que | As | This phrase is seen at the beginning of sentences such as “En tant qu’ingénieurs, vos responsibilités sont…” which is “As engineers, your responsibilities are…” |
| Combler un poste | To staff a position | This one is a rare phrase seen in advance levels of testing but could be there |