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Lesson 4 of 4
  • Year 9

Pandemic in France: impersonal expressions including weather

Learning outcomes

I can use impersonal phrases to talk about life during the global pandemic.

I can identify singular and plural nouns and adjectives from the sounds [a] and [au].

Lesson 4 of 4
New
New
  • Year 9

Pandemic in France: impersonal expressions including weather

Learning outcomes

I can use impersonal phrases to talk about life during the global pandemic.

I can identify singular and plural nouns and adjectives from the sounds [a] and [au].

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. French nouns and masculine adjectives ending -al change to end in -aux in the plural form.
  2. French adjectives with -al endings have nouns as their root.
  3. 'il est' can be used with an adjective and an infinitive to talk about how things are for people in general.
  4. In impersonal phrases, ‘il’ never means ‘he’. It often means ‘it’, but does not refer to a specific person or thing.

Keywords

  • Impersonal verb - a verb that doesn’t refer to a particular person or thing, and whose subject is most often ‘il’ (it)

Common misconception

'Il' always means 'he' in English.

In impersonal phrases, ‘il’ never means ‘he’. It often means ‘it’, but does not refer to a specific person or thing. It is often used in weather phrases, saying what time it is and what you must (not) do.


To help you plan your year 9 French lesson on: Pandemic in France: impersonal expressions including weather, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

You might want to ask students to think, pair, share examples of where they have seen impersonal uses of 'il' before showing the examples the Oak characters come up with at the beginning of the third lesson cycle.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

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).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French word to the English meaning.

Correct Answer:cheval (m),horse

horse

Correct Answer:réseau social (m),social network

social network

Correct Answer:hôpital (m),hospital

hospital

Correct Answer:métal (m),metal

metal

Correct Answer:concours (m),competition

competition

Correct Answer:situation (f),situation

situation

Q2.
Which sentence best describes an emergency situation?

Il y a une émission à la télévision.
La diversité est importante.
Correct answer: Il faut agir vite en cas d’urgence.
Il faut retourner après l’après-midi.

Q3.
How do you say 'to fall' in French?

participer
voler
Correct answer: tomber
décider

Q4.
Which sentence correctly uses 'à' or 'de' before an infinitive?

Il faut arrêter à manger.
Correct answer: Il est interdit de voler.
Tu veux décider à faire ça.
Nous aidons de participer.

Q5.
Which part of the body is the 'pied' in French?

back
arm
Correct answer: foot
finger

Q6.
Which sentence is correctly written and impersonal?

Il est difficile de essayer.
Correct answer: Il est difficile d’essayer.
On essayer de participer.

Assessment exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
Match each French word to its English meaning.

Correct Answer:pied (m),foot

foot

Correct Answer:hôpital (m),hospital

hospital

Correct Answer:concours (m),competition

competition

Correct Answer:métal (m),metal

metal

Correct Answer:cheval (m),horse

horse

Q2.
Which of these is the correct plural form of the adjective mondial?

Correct answer: mondiaux
mondiales
mondiauxes
mondialez

Q3.
Which of these is a correct impersonal expression?

Il est tomber à l’urgence.
Correct answer: Il est interdit de participer.
Il est santé de voler.
l est le pied de continuer.

Q4.
Reorder the words to build a correct sentence. Start with 'il'

1 - il
2 - est
3 - nécessaire
4 - d'
5 - entrer

Q5.
Which of these is true about how 'il' is used in impersonal phrases?

'il' means 'he' in all sentences
'il' always refers to a person
Correct answer: 'il' can mean 'it' and often refers to nothing specific
'il' is used only with names

Additional material

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