Money nouns: gender + direct-object verbs
Learn money and part-time nouns WITH their article — gender is not predictable: l'argent (m), le petit boulot (part-time job — masculine despite "job"), une pièce (coin), un billet (banknote), les économies (f pl) (savings). Money verbs take a direct object where English adds a preposition: gagner / dépenser de l'argent (earn/spend money), emprunter à quelqu'un (borrow FROM someone — à, not de), coûter (cost — no de).
Future for certain, conditional for wishes
Two tenses talk about the future, split by certainty. Future (je travaillerai, je serai) states something as going to happen — a firm plan or prediction: l'année prochaine, je chercherai un petit boulot. Conditional (je voudrais, j'aimerais) expresses a wish or hypothetical — softer: je voudrais devenir médecin is a hope, not a promise. Both build on the infinitive stem (drop the final -e of -re verbs); the conditional uses the imperfect endings.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Future/present used for a 'would like' task
Asked what they would like to do, candidates use the future or present, turning a wish into a firm plan. Wrong: Je vais acheter une voiture (states it as decided). Right, when the task asks "what would you like": J'achèterais une voiture (a hypothetical wish). Task Completion is capped when the task's tense is answered in the wrong one.
w22 41 Task 5
travaillerai vs travaillerais — the -s
The only written difference between je travaillerai (I will work — future) and je travaillerais (I would work — conditional) is the final -s, which is silent when spoken. Dropping or adding it flips the certainty of the sentence. The same holds for je gagnerai / je gagnerais — proofread the ending against the meaning you intend.
(general FL trap)
qualités need adjectives, not diplomas
les qualités = the personal qualities a job needs (patient, organisé, sociable), NOT qualifications (formal diplomas, les diplômes). A task asking "what qualities do you need?" wants adjectives describing character (il faut être patient et sociable), not exam results. Answering with nouns, or confusing the two, loses Task Completion marks.
s22 41 Q3(b) Task 3
Misspelling job titles in future plans
Job-title nouns are commonly chosen in future-plans writing but frequently misspelt: médecin (never medecin), ingénieur, infirmière (feminine, keep the accent), avocat, professeur, scientifique. A missing accent or a dropped letter is exactly the accuracy slip examiner reports flag across three separate sittings.
s22 41 Q3(b); w23 42/43 Q3
travailler ≠ voyager (work ≠ travel)
A named Cambridge false-friend trap: "travel" sounds close to travail, but they are unrelated. travailler / le travail = to work / work; voyager / le voyage = to travel / a trip. Using voyager for travailler turns "I will work in a shop" into "I will travel in a shop" and loses marks — key messages call it "vital" to distinguish them.
s22 41 (Key Messages); s22 41 Q3(b) Task 1
Agree adjectives with money/job nouns
An adjective describing a money or job noun must still agree in gender and number, even when the noun's gender is not obvious from spelling: une carte bancaire is feminine → une carte chère (not cher); une idée → une bonne idée; des horaires → des horaires flexibles. Check the noun's gender first, then match the adjective's ending.
(general FL trap)
'I will' and 'I would' are interchangeable
Because both tenses describe things not yet done, candidates treat the future and conditional as interchangeable. They are not — they signal different certainty. Je travaillerai = I will work (decided); je voudrais travailler = I would like to work (a hope). Swapping them makes a hope sound like a certainty, which the mark scheme reads as not answering the task.
w22 41 Task 5
Match the tense to the plan's certainty
Decide how certain the plan is: a firm intention → the future (je travaillerai); a wish or hypothetical → the conditional (je voudrais). Then echo the task's wording — "what will you do?" signals the future, "what would you like?" the conditional.
Build the future/conditional stem right
Both future and conditional attach to the infinitive stem: drop the final -e of -re verbs (vendre → vendr-). Irregular stems must be memorised — ser- (être), fer- (faire), ir- (aller), voudr- (vouloir) — then add the regular endings.
Justify the plan, varying connectives
Add a reason to a future or money plan, using parce que or car plus a second connector (donc, alors, mais) to raise the Range mark: je chercherai un petit boulot car je voudrais économiser.
Proofread spelling, gender and endings
Before finishing, proofread three things: job-title spelling and accents (médecin, infirmière, ingénieur); qualities as agreeing adjectives (il faut être patient(e), organisé(e)); and every future/conditional ending, since one silent -s changes the tense.
This topic combines money vocabulary (earning, spending, saving), part-time-job vocabulary, and the future and conditional tenses used to describe plans and ambitions.
Money:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| l'argent (m) | money |
| l'argent de poche (m) | pocket money |
| le salaire | wage, salary |
| les économies (f pl) | savings |
| une pièce | a coin |
| un billet | a banknote |
| gagner de l'argent | to earn money |
| dépenser de l'argent | to spend money |
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