Assessing Strengths and Weaknesses in French - Exercises

Lesson Transcript

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Camille est (pause with a tap of the finger) en chant et en danse.

forte

Camille est forte en chant et en danse.

"Camille is good at singing and dancing."

We use forte in this sentence because Camille is a girl, and we need the feminine singular form of the adjective fort to agree with the subject.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Nous sommes (pause with a tap of the finger) en géographie.

faibles

Nous sommes faibles en géographie.

"We're weak in geography."

We use faibles because nous is plural, and even though faible doesn't change for gender, it adds -s in the plural form to agree with the subject.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Ils sont (pause with a tap of the finger) en cuisine française.

forts

Ils sont forts en cuisine française.

"They're good at French cooking."

We use forts because ils is a masculine plural subject. The adjective fort adds -s to agree in number with the plural subject.

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

Ready?

Je suis

Je suis fort

Je suis fort en

Je suis fort en maths,

Je suis fort en maths, mais

Je suis fort en maths, mais faible

Je suis fort en maths, mais faible en

Je suis fort en maths, mais faible en dessin.

"I'm good at math but weak in drawing."

Je suis fort en maths, mais faible en dessin.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Julien est (forte or fort) en sport, surtout au foot.

fort

Julien est fort en sport, surtout au foot.

"Julien is good at sports, especially soccer."

We use fort here because Julien is a masculine singular subject. The adjective doesn't need any ending — fort is the correct form.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Mes parents sont (faibles or faible) en technologie.

faibles

Mes parents sont faibles en technologie.

"My parents aren't very good with technology."

We use faibles because mes parents is a plural subject. Faible becomes faibles to match in number.

Let's translate some sentences into French.

Translate "You are good at modern history." into French.

Here, "you" refers to the formal or plural.

Vous, the subject pronoun meaning "you" (formal or plural),

followed by

êtes, the present tense of être, meaning "are,"

forts, the masculine plural form of fort, meaning "strong" or "good at,"

followed by

en histoire moderne, meaning "in modern history."

We use forts because vous, here refers to a group of people, so the adjective must agree in the plural. Since the group is masculine or mixed, we add -s to fort.

Vous êtes forts en histoire moderne.

"You are good at modern history."

Translate "My brother is weak in foreign languages." into French.

Mon frère, meaning "my brother,"

est, the third-person singular form of être, meaning "is,"

followed by

faible, meaning "weak,"

en langues étrangères, meaning "in foreign languages."

We use faible here because mon frère is masculine singular. Faible stays the same in both masculine and feminine singular.

Mon frère est faible en langues étrangères.

"My brother is weak in foreign languages."

Translate "You are strong in creative writing." into French.

Here, "you" refers to informal, female.

Tu, the subject pronoun meaning "you" (informal),

followed by

es, the second-person singular form of être, meaning "are,"

forte, the feminine singular form of fort, meaning "good at,"

followed by

en écriture créative, meaning "in creative writing."

We use forte because the subject tu refers to a girl. The adjective fort takes the -e to become forte in the feminine singular.

Tu es forte en écriture créative.

"You're strong in creative writing."

Listen to me as I speak. Which form of fort or faible is used in the sentences?

Camille est forte en chant et en danse.

Let's listen one more time.

Camille est forte en chant et en danse.

Did you hear, forte?

Forte is used here because Camille is a feminine singular subject. In French, adjectives like fort (meaning "strong" or "good at") must agree with the subject's gender. The -e at the end shows that it's the feminine form.

How about...?

Je suis fort en maths, mais faible en dessin.

Let's listen one more time.

Je suis fort en maths, mais faible en dessin.

Did you hear, fort, "strong" and faible, "weak?"

Fort is used here because the speaker is masculine and singular.

Faible doesn't change for gender — it stays the same for both masculine and feminine in the singular form.

Next…

Mes parents sont faibles en technologie.

One more time.

Mes parents sont faibles en technologie.

Did you hear, faibles?

We use faibles here because parents is a plural subject. The adjective faible simply adds an -s to agree in number.

And...

Mon frère est faible en langues étrangères.

One more time.

Mon frère est faible en langues étrangères.

Did you hear, faible?

Faible remains in its base form here because the subject, mon frère, is masculine and singular. The adjective doesn't need an extra ending.

Thank you for watching.

Now you know how to assess someone's strengths and weaknesses in French.

...and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway.

Au revoir !

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