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Lesson 4 of 3

School: 'ils, elles ont' and 'ils, elles sont'

I can use 'ils, elles ont' and 'ils, elles sont' with a range of adjectives to write sentences describing my school.

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Lesson 4 of 3
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School: 'ils, elles ont' and 'ils, elles sont'

I can use 'ils, elles ont' and 'ils, elles sont' with a range of adjectives to write sentences describing my school.

Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. An adjective must agree with the gender of the noun it describes; this is called adjective agreement.
  2. Most adjectives end in -e in the feminine form, but some are irregular like 'beau' (beautiful) which becomes 'belle'.
  3. To express 'they have' use 'ils ont' or 'elles ont'. To express 'they are' use 'ils sont' or 'elles sont'.
  4. Adjectives must also agree with the noun in number; many add -s in the masculine plural form and -es in the feminine.
  5. Some common adjectives are irregular in the plural: 'vieux' and 'mauvais' stay the same and 'beau' becomes 'beaux'.

Keywords

  • Adjective agreement - when the ending of an adjective matches the noun it describes in gender and number

  • Ils, elles ont - ‘they have’ in French

  • Ils, elles sont - ‘they are’ in French

Common misconception

All adjectives add -e in the feminine form, -s in the masculine plural form and -es in the feminine plural.

Many common adjectives like 'vieux' (old) 'beau' (beautiful) and 'bon' (good) are irregular and don't follow this exact pattern. We have to learn their different forms by heart.

Colour-coding is very helpful to assist students in understanding adjective agreement in French. They could be encouraged to colour code nouns and adjectives according to their gender in their exercise books.
Teacher tip

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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French numbers to their correct digits.

Correct Answer:quinze,15

15

Correct Answer:trente,30

30

Correct Answer:un,1

1

Correct Answer:treize,13

13

Correct Answer:trois,3

3

Correct Answer:cinq,5

5

Q2.
Which sentence correctly says "There are three rooms" in French?

Il y a trois salle
Correct answer: Il y a trois salles
Il y a des trois salles
Il n’y a pas trois salles

Q3.
Put the words in the correct order to make a proper sentence.

1 - il
2 - n'
3 - y
4 - a
5 - pas
6 - de
7 - jardin

Q4.
Complete the sentence using the correct word: Il n’y a pas ordinateurs dans la salle.

Correct Answer: d'

Q5.
How do you say "They are tall" in French when talking about a group of girls?

Correct Answer: elles sont grandes

Q6.
Which sentene has the right form of the adjective to go with 'professeuse'.

Correct answer: La professeuse est belle
Le professeuse est beau
La professeuse est bon
Le professeuse est mauvais

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Which of these adjectives are in the feminine form?

beau
Correct answer: belle
bon
Correct answer: bonne

Q2.
Which sentence means 'They are good' (talking about a group of boys)?

Ils ont bon
Elles sont bonnes
Correct answer: Ils sont bons
Elles ont bonnes

Q3.
Complete the sentence to say 'They are good'. Elles bonnes.

Correct Answer: sont

Q4.
Complete the sentence to say: 'They have fifteen computers'. Ils quinze ordinateurs.

Correct Answer: ont

Lesson appears in

UnitFrench / School: 'avoir', 'être' , 'il y a' and regular verbs in the present

French

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