Verb drill
French contrastive focus: correct who, what or when
Say the same French message with a different correction: Nora, the books or tomorrow. Compare short exchanges, then complete six focused replies.
- B1
- 6 answers
- Checked all at once
- Accents count
- Learn this in the B1 notebook →
In short
Contrastive focus brings forward the detail you are correcting. In Nora apporte les livres demain, you can highlight Nora for “who”, les livres for “what”, or demain for “when”. Let the misunderstanding choose your target; pitch movement, length and clear articulation can all help.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
Study first: one message, three corrections
| They ask | You correct | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Amine apporte les livres ? | Non, c’est Nora qui apporte les livres. | Nora: the person. |
| Nora apporte les cahiers ? | Non, elle apporte les livres, pas les cahiers. | les livres: the object. |
| Nora apporte les livres ce soir ? | Non, elle les apporte demain, pas ce soir. | demain: the time. |
Say the replies at a comfortable volume. Give the correction a little more time and a clear pitch movement, then let the rest of the message continue smoothly. Compare the first and second rows: the action stays the same, but the listener needs a different detail brought into focus.
Objects in the corrections
Find:
Complete six corrections, then say them
Type the missing French word from the cue. Once the sentence is complete, say the reply as if the other person has just misunderstood that detail. You can hide the reference table above for a second attempt.
1 · Put the correction into the reply
- Non, c’est qui apporte les livres. (Correct the person: Nora, not Amine.)
- Non, elle apporte les , pas les cahiers. (Correct the object: books, not notebooks.)
- Non, elle vient , pas ce soir. (Correct the time: tomorrow, not this evening.)
- Non, c’est qui ai les clés. (Correct the person: I have the keys, not you.)
- Non, le rendez-vous est à heures, pas à six heures. (Correct the hour: five, not six. Write the number in letters.)
- Non, nous partons , pas samedi. (Correct the day: Friday, not Saturday.)
How do you stress a word to correct someone in French?
C’est elle qui a appelé.
She’s the one who called.
C’est… qui singles out a person doing the action.
Ce qui me plaît, c’est le rythme.
What I like is the rhythm.
The second part names the detail the speaker is bringing forward.
French normally gives prominence to the end of a rhythmic group. A correction can also bring another element into focus through wording and pronunciation. To check your spoken reply, ask a partner which detail they heard you correct: the person, the object or the time. Use their answer to choose where to make the next repetition clearer.