A good French response starts before the first sentence. Read the task, list every point it asks for, and decide the tense and one idea for each point. This skill matters in every writing task, because a clear answer to the wrong question earns little.
It is the first step in developing an original written response, and it makes the later lessons easier because you know what you are writing.
How do I read a task so I miss nothing?
Tasks usually give a situation and a list of points. Work through three checks:
- Who is the reader? A friend, a teacher, a pen-pal? This decides whether you write tu or vous and how formal you sound.
- What are the points? Underline each one. Number them so you can tick them off.
- What time does each point refer to? Words like d’habitude, le week-end dernier and le week-end prochain tell you the tense.
Worked example
Task: Un ami français, Hugo, veut savoir comment vous passez le week-end. Écrivez-lui un message. Dites : ce que vous faites d’habitude le samedi ; ce que vous avez fait le week-end dernier ; ce que vous allez faire le week-end prochain ; pourquoi vous aimez ou n’aimez pas le week-end.
Step 1, reader: Hugo is a friend, so use tu and a friendly tone.
Step 2, points and tenses:
| Point | Time signal | Tense | One idea |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d’habitude | present | je fais du vélo le matin |
| 2 | le week-end dernier | passé composé | je suis allé au cinéma |
| 3 | le week-end prochain | aller + infinitive | je vais voir mes grands-parents |
| 4 | pourquoi | present + parce que | je peux me reposer |
Step 3, draft from the plan:
Salut Hugo, d’habitude, le samedi matin, je fais du vélo avec mon frère. Le week-end dernier, je suis allé au cinéma avec mes amis. Le week-end prochain, je vais voir mes grands-parents. J’aime le week-end parce que je peux me reposer. Et toi, que fais-tu le samedi ?
Each of the four points appears once, in the tense its time signal asks for, and the message ends with a question to Hugo.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to ignore the time signal and write every point in the present tense.
Mistaken answer: Le week-end dernier, je vais au cinéma. Le week-end prochain, je vois mes grands-parents.
The writer knows the vocabulary but did not read dernier and prochain as instructions about tense.
The correction is to circle each time word in the task before you write. Dernier points to the past, so je suis allé au cinéma.
Prochain points to the near future, so je vais voir mes grands-parents. Our past and future meaning module covers both forms in detail.
Check yourself
Try these on paper, then open each answer.
1. Task: Écrivez à une amie française sur votre collège. Dites : où il se trouve ; quelle est votre matière préférée et pourquoi ; ce que vous avez fait hier ; ce que vous allez faire demain. How many points are there, and what tense does each need?
Show answer
There are four points. Where the school is: present. Favourite subject and why: present with parce que. What you did yesterday: passé composé. What you will do tomorrow: aller + infinitive.
2. Which tense does each phrase point to: chaque matin, hier soir, demain après-midi?
Show answer
Chaque matin is a habit, so the present. Hier soir is finished, so the passé composé. Demain après-midi is coming soon, so aller + infinitive.
3. A task asks for a message about your best friend. A student writes five lines about their pet cat. What went wrong, and what should they do?
Show answer
The student answered a different question. Before writing, they should have underlined the topic and the points. They should restart from a plan about the best friend, using the correct French they already have.
Where this leads next
With a plan in hand, the next step is to connect short sentences into a coherent paragraph. Test the whole module later with the integrated practice set.
Students who plan well on paper can still lose points when the clock is running. A teacher in online one-to-one French tuition can time a short task with you and look at how you read the instructions.