Translation: Into English and Into French

Translation is tested in both directions, in two different papers, and neither allows a dictionary.

Direction	Where	Marks	Minimum length
French → English	Paper 3 Reading, Section B	10	35 words F / 50 words H
English → French	Paper 4 Writing	10	35 words F / 50 words H

Both are marked on meaning first. The French-into-English passage is split into small chunks, and you earn a mark for each chunk you render accurately. The English-into-French translation uses two grids: one for how much of the meaning you convey, one for your vocabulary and grammar. In either direction, a verb in the wrong tense or person is not credited, so tense control is worth as many marks as vocabulary.

The two directions demand different skills. Into English, the challenge is understanding — decoding faux amis, negatives and tenses. Into French, the challenge is accuracy — gender, agreement, word order and the right verb form.

Word-for-word translation is the fastest way to lose marks in both directions, because the two languages package ideas differently.

• Je m'entends bien avec ma sœur is "I get on well with my sister", not "I hear myself well with my sister".
• Il y a un chien is "there is a dog", not "it there has a dog".
• Going the other way, "I am cold" is J'ai froid (literally "I have cold"), not Je suis froid — French uses avoir for these states.

Read the whole sentence before you write anything, decide what it actually means, then produce natural language in the target. A translation that a native speaker would understand without seeing the original is the standard both mark schemes apply.

Ask yourself: would a French (or English) speaker understand this on its own? If yes, you have the meaning. If it only makes sense next to the original, rewrite it.

Work through this Foundation-style passage the way the mark scheme does, one chunk at a time.

C'est les vacances ! Je m'entends avec mon père. On ne se dispute jamais. Hier, nous avons écouté de la musique ensemble dans le salon.

French chunk	Accurate English	Trap to avoid
C'est les vacances !	It's the holidays!	not "it's the vacancies"
Je m'entends avec mon père.	I get on with my father.	not "I hear/listen to my dad"
On ne se dispute jamais.	We never argue.	keep the negative — ne … jamais
Hier, nous avons écouté…	Yesterday, we listened…	past tense, not "we listen"
…dans le salon.	…in the living room.	salon = living room, not "salon"

The marks come from four moves: natural English (get on with), the negative kept (never), the tense honoured (listened, not listen), and the false friend defused (living room). If a single word is unknown, infer it from context and write your best attempt — a rough version can still earn its chunk, but a blank cannot.

Faux amis ("false friends") look like a word in the other language but mean something different. They cost marks in both directions, so learn the common ones by heart.

French	Looks like	Actually means
sensible	sensible	sensitive
la librairie	library	bookshop
la journée	journey	day
actuellement	actually	currently
le salon	saloon	living room
la chambre	chamber	bedroom
rester	to rest	to stay

The trap works both ways. Translating into French, "I stayed at home" is Je suis resté(e) à la maison, never Je me suis reposé (which means "I rested"). Translating into English, une librairie is a bookshop, and actuellement is "currently". When a word looks suspiciously easy, pause and check you are not walking into a false friend.

Translating into French is won or lost on accuracy. Run every sentence through four checks before moving on.

Check	English	Correct French	Why
Gender + agreement	a new car	une nouvelle voiture	voiture is feminine; nouvelle agrees
Adjective position	a red car	une voiture rouge	colours go after the noun
Negation wrap	I don't eat meat	je ne mange pas de viande	ne … pas wraps the verb; de after negative
Contractions	at the cinema	au cinéma	à + le → au

Two of these deserve special care. Agreement: decide the gender of each noun first, then make its article and every adjective match — un petit garçon but une petite fille. Contractions are compulsory, not optional: à + le → au, à + les → aux, de + le → du, de + les → des (but à la and de la do not contract).

The costliest errors into French are verb errors, because a wrong verb form is a major error that harms communication and loses the chunk. The perfect tense (passé composé) is where students slip most, so make the auxiliary choice deliberately.

• Most verbs take avoir: J'ai mangé une pomme ("I ate an apple").
• The fourteen movement verbs (aller, venir, arriver, partir…) and all reflexive verbs take être, and the participle agrees with the subject: Elle est allée en ville ("She went to town"); Je me suis levé(e) ("I got up").

Worked micro-translations:

English	French	Watch
Yesterday I went to town.	Hier, je suis allé(e) en ville.	aller → être + agreement
She has eaten the apples.	Elle a mangé les pommes.	manger → avoir, no subject agreement
I got up early.	Je me suis levé(e) tôt.	reflexive → être + agreement

(Higher tier) When a direct object comes before an avoir verb, the participle agrees with it: les pommes qu'elle a mangées ("the apples that she ate"). At Foundation, focus on the auxiliary choice and subject agreement with être.

1. Translating word for word

Both directions reward meaning, not a word-for-word match. Render idioms by their equivalent: j'ai froid for "I am cold", I get on with for je m'entends avec.

2. Falling for false friends

Sensible, la journée and la librairie do not mean what they look like. Learn the common faux amis so a familiar spelling does not produce a wrong answer.

3. Getting the tense wrong

A verb in the wrong tense or person is not credited in either direction. Nous avons écouté is "we listened", not "we listen"; for "I will go" use the near future je vais aller (Foundation) or the future j'irai (Higher), not the bare present je vais.

4. Choosing the wrong auxiliary

Into French, using avoir where être is needed (or forgetting the agreement) is a major error. Ask "movement or reflexive?" before writing any perfect-tense verb.

5. Leaving gaps

An unknown word is never a reason to leave a chunk blank. Infer the meaning, write your best attempt, and hand in something for every part — a blank can only score zero.