Infinitives

Bonjour et bienvenue!

Hi Year 7, we hope you’ve had a good week. Do continue to email us with your amazing creations at mflwordpress@clf.uk

Last week we looked at the important French verb être, can you remember what it means in English? Today we are going to find out about infinitives in French as there are lots of sentence starters that you can use with infinitives which can add greater detail to your work. What do we mean by an infinitive? Look at the image below, in each line there is an infinitive, what do you notice about these words? You’ve seen plus and moins before, can you remember what they mean too?

In fact, you will have noticed that all these words either end in er or re. These are signs to help you identify 2 out of the 3 types of infinitives in French. Do you know what the third one is? Can you use https://www.wordreference.com/ to find out the meaning of these infinitives?

Take a look at the video below to find out about how to use infinitives in French.

Now it’s your turn to practise what you’ve learnt! (Answers at the bottom of this post)

In the video, they mention a lot of infinitives that are really important to know. Why don’t you have a go at writing these verbs down, be as creative as you can. For example, draw a picture to represent each infinitive or have a go at creating a triarama (see video below) with these infinitives. The more you practise writing them the more likely you are to remember them without referring to a vocabulary list. You could even use infinitives in sentences using j’aime, j’adore, on peut etc… Don’t forget to send us your creations at mflwordpress@clf.uk

Les blagues du jour! (Jokes of the day!)

Two cats have a swimming race in the Channel. English cat ‘One, two, three’ and French cat ‘Un, deux, trois’. Which won?

‘One, two, three’ because ‘Un, deux, trois’ quatre cinq!!!!!!!!!!

Do you understand these mimes? Can you spot the infinitive in each one?

La culture française

Lots of famous people come from France and French speaking countries who you may not recognise. Today we are going to learn about Marcel Marceau, a famous French mime artist.

Who is Marcel Marceau?

• He was born on the 22nd March 1923 and died on the 22nd September 2007.
• His real name was Marcel Mangel but known by his stage name Marcel Marceau. A performer of mime (acting only using body language and no sound).

• During WW2 he used his acting skills to disguise as a boy scout to help save hundreds of Jewish children from an orphanage who were on their way to a concentration camp. He used his mime skills to keep the children silent.
• It is said he single-handedly revived the art of mime after WW2.
• Marcel created many personalities, the most famous was Bip the Clown, a clown with a limp, red flower in his hat.

• Marcel performed professionally world-wide for 60 years, known throughout the world as the ‘master of silence’.
• Marcel established his own mime school in Paris in 1959.
• Michael Jackson (American pop singer) said that he used some of Marcel’s techniques in his dance steps (the moon walk!).
• Marcel won lots of awards including ‘Grand Officer de la Légion d’Honneur and the National Order of Merit presented by the French President in 1998.
• Even though Marcel was silent in his mime, he spoke many languages fluently.

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s lesson. Don’t forget to look at the extended French project (attached below) and tick off the sections you’ve already completed. We would love your feedback about our French posts so please do email us at mflwordpress@clf.uk