A Level French Translation: Practice Passages and Model Answers

Translation is the most trainable part of A Level French. It is a closed skill with a small number of recurring problems, and unlike the essay it does not depend on having read the right critic or having an opinion worth defending. Students who drill it properly gain marks within weeks.

This page sets out what it is worth on each board, how it is actually marked, and six original practice passages (three into English, three into French) with model versions and a commentary on what each one is testing. For the wider qualification, see the A Level French guide.

What it is worth

Board Into English Into French
AQA (7652) Paper 1: 10 marks, min. 100 words Paper 1: 10 marks, min. 100 words, with a supporting French text
Edexcel (9FR0) Paper 1 Section C: 20 marks Paper 2 Section A: 20 marks
Eduqas Component 2 Section C: 20 marks, min. 100 words Component 2 Section C: 20 marks, min. 100 words
WJEC Unit 2 (AS): min. 70 words, into English or Welsh Unit 4 (A2): min. 100 words, from English or Welsh
CCEA AS 2 Section B: approx. 130 words AS 2 Section C (short sentences) and A2 2 Section B (approx. 130 words)
Cambridge 9898 No translation in either direction
Edexcel IAL No translation in either direction: grammar manipulation instead

At Eduqas the two translations together are 40 of the 100 marks on Component 2. That is the highest share of any board, and it makes translation drilling unusually valuable if Eduqas is your specification.

How it is actually marked

Translation is marked in segments, not as a whole. The passage is divided up in advance and each segment carries a mark or part of a mark, awarded for conveying the meaning accurately. Three consequences follow, and they are the whole of the technique:

  1. Never leave a blank. A gap scores zero with certainty. An imperfect attempt that carries some of the meaning may still score, and often does. This is the single most expensive habit in the paper and the easiest to fix.
  2. Accuracy beats elegance. A graceful version that quietly drops a negative, a tense or a plural loses the segment it sat in. Translate everything that is there, including the small words.
  3. Your English is marked too. A version that proves you understood the French but reads as nonsense in English does not get full credit. Read your answer back as though you had never seen the original.

One more habit worth building: translate the sentence, not the word. Most lost marks come from students working left to right through a clause whose French structure does not survive being carried across word by word.

Into English

The trap in this direction is not vocabulary. It is that you already speak English, so a clumsy version sounds acceptable to you in a way it would not to a reader coming to it cold.

Passage 1: volunteering

Depuis une dizaine d'années, le bénévolat connaît en France un renouveau inattendu. Alors que l'on prédisait la fin de l'engagement associatif, ce sont les moins de trente ans qui s'y investissent le plus volontiers. Il ne s'agit plus, pour eux, de consacrer un après-midi par semaine à une cause lointaine : ils veulent voir concrètement ce que leur travail change. Les associations ont dû s'adapter. Celles qui n'ont pas su proposer des missions courtes et précises ont vu leurs effectifs fondre. D'autres, en revanche, n'ont jamais compté autant de membres. Ce que cette génération reproche au bénévolat traditionnel, ce n'est pas son exigence, mais son manque de transparence.

Model version

For the past ten years or so, volunteering in France has been undergoing an unexpected revival. At the very moment when the end of voluntary-sector commitment was being predicted, it is the under-thirties who are throwing themselves into it most willingly. For them it is no longer a matter of devoting one afternoon a week to some distant cause: they want to see in concrete terms what difference their work makes. Charities have had to adapt. Those that failed to offer short, clearly defined roles have watched their numbers dwindle. Others, by contrast, have never had so many members. What this generation holds against traditional volunteering is not how much it demands, but its lack of transparency.

What it was testing

  • Depuis with the present tense. French uses the present where English needs a perfect: connaît depuis dix ans is "has been undergoing for ten years", never "knows". This appears in almost every paper.
  • Alors que is adversative here, not merely temporal. The contrast is the point of the whole passage, so "whereas" or "at the very moment when" carries it; a flat "as" loses it.
  • une dizaine d'années is "around ten years". Une douzaine is around twelve. Both are approximate, and neither is a precise count.
  • l'on is euphonic. The l' carries no meaning and is not translated.
  • il ne s'agit plus de: "it is no longer a matter of". Never translate s'agir literally.
  • association in this context is a charity or voluntary organisation, not an "association".
  • voir concrètement cannot go across word for word. "See concretely" is not English. "See in concrete terms what difference their work makes" is, and rule 3 above applies to you as much as to anyone.
  • ont vu leurs effectifs fondre: fondre is to melt; effectifs is membership numbers. "Watched their numbers dwindle" carries both.
  • The cleft Ce que… c'est… needs restructuring into English: "What this generation holds against X is…". Students who write "That which this generation reproaches…" lose the English mark.
  • reprocher quelque chose à quelqu'un: the à marks the person, not the thing.

Passage 2: social media

On a longtemps cru que les réseaux sociaux rapprocheraient les gens. Vingt ans plus tard, le constat est plus nuancé. S'il est vrai que l'on n'a jamais eu autant de moyens de rester en contact, encore faut-il avoir quelque chose à se dire. Plusieurs études menées en Europe tendent à montrer que les adolescents les plus connectés sont aussi ceux qui se déclarent le plus souvent seuls. Faut-il pour autant incriminer la technologie ? Ce serait un peu court. Ce que ces plateformes ont changé, c'est moins la quantité de nos échanges que leur qualité : on se parle davantage, mais on s'écoute sans doute moins qu'auparavant.

Model version

For a long time it was believed that social media would bring people closer together. Twenty years on, the picture is more mixed. While it is true that we have never had so many ways of staying in touch, we still need to have something to say to one another. Several studies carried out in Europe tend to show that the most connected teenagers are also the ones who most often describe themselves as lonely. Does that mean we should blame technology? That would be rather too simple. What these platforms have changed is less the quantity of our exchanges than their quality: we talk to one another more, but we probably listen to one another less than we used to.

What it was testing

  • sans doute means "probably", not "without doubt". This is the most costly false friend in the paper. "Undoubtedly" is sans aucun doute. Translating it wrongly reverses the strength of the claim and loses the segment.
  • rapprocheraient is a future-in-the-past: the conditional after a past reporting verb. English needs "would bring", not "would have brought".
  • encore faut-il… is a fixed idiom with stylistic inversion: "you still need to", "that said, you do have to". It is not a question, despite the word order.
  • Faut-il pour autant…? is deliberative: "does that mean we should…", "are we therefore to…". Softening it into a question about inference drops the modal.
  • le constat: "observation" or "finding" is a correct dictionary gloss, but it reads badly here; "the picture", "the assessment" or "the verdict" is better. It is never "the constant".
  • Ce serait un peu court is idiomatic: an argument that is un peu court is too thin or too easy. A literal "that would be a bit short" is not English.
  • on shifts, but your English should not. It is impersonal in on a longtemps cru and means "we" in on se parle. Choose the English pronoun that fits each occurrence, but do not switch between "we" and "you" inside one sentence, which reads as carelessness rather than judgement.
  • moins X que Y: "less X than Y". Keep the comparison intact; it carries the whole point of the sentence.

Passage 3: heritage and tourism

Les mêmes images reviennent chaque mois de juillet : des files d'attente interminables devant des monuments que l'on ne visite plus, mais que l'on photographie. Certaines communes ont fini par limiter le nombre de visiteurs, quitte à se priver de recettes importantes. La mesure a fait grincer des dents. Les commerçants y ont vu une menace ; les habitants, un soulagement. Ce qui frappe, c'est que personne ne remet en cause le tourisme lui-même. On s'accorde seulement à dire qu'il faudrait le répartir autrement, sans jamais préciser comment.

Model version

The same images come round every July: endless queues outside monuments that people no longer visit but photograph. Some local authorities have ended up limiting visitor numbers, even at the cost of forgoing substantial revenue. The measure did not go down well. Shopkeepers saw it as a threat; residents, as a relief. What is striking is that nobody is questioning tourism itself. There is agreement only that it ought to be spread out differently, without anyone ever saying how.

What it was testing

  • quitte à: "even if it means", "even at the cost of". A structure with no direct English equivalent, so it must be rebuilt.
  • se priver de is deliberate. "Forgoing" keeps the choice; "losing" makes it accidental and removes the point that the councils decided to do this.
  • faire grincer des dents: literally to make teeth grind; idiomatically, to ruffle feathers or go down badly. Idioms are marked on meaning, so a sensible English idiom scores where a literal version does not.
  • commune is a false friend: a French administrative district, best rendered as a local authority or town council, not "commune".
  • The ellipsis in les habitants, un soulagement: the verb is left out in French and must be supplied or signalled in English.
  • remettre en cause: to call into question. Not "to put back in cause".
  • il faudrait: conditional of falloir, so "ought to" or "should", not "it was necessary".
  • y ont vu une menace: the construction is voir quelque chose dans quelque chose, with y standing for dans cette mesure. (Voir en is used mainly of people: voir en lui un successeur.) English needs "saw it as".

Into French

This direction is marked on accuracy of language as well as on meaning, so it rewards a completely different habit: before you write anything, find the verb, decide its tense, and decide whether anything in the sentence forces a subjunctive.

Passage 4: reading habits

Every summer the same debate returns. Some argue that young people no longer read; others reply that they have simply stopped reading the things adults expect them to read. What is certain is that the number of novels borrowed from public libraries by under-eighteens has been falling for fifteen years. Publishers have reacted by producing shorter books, which some critics see as a surrender. Others point out that a teenager who finishes a short novel is more likely to start another one. If schools want their pupils to read, they will have to accept that the choice is not theirs to make.

Model version

Chaque été, le même débat revient. Certains affirment que les jeunes ne lisent plus ; d'autres répondent qu'ils ont simplement cessé de lire ce que les adultes voudraient qu'ils lisent. Ce qui est certain, c'est que le nombre de romans empruntés dans les bibliothèques publiques par les moins de dix-huit ans baisse depuis quinze ans. Les éditeurs ont réagi en publiant des livres plus courts, ce que certains critiques considèrent comme une capitulation. D'autres font remarquer qu'un adolescent qui termine un roman court a plus de chances d'en commencer un autre. Si les écoles veulent que leurs élèves lisent, il leur faudra accepter que le choix ne leur appartienne pas.

What it was testing

  • "has been falling for fifteen years" → baisse depuis quinze ans. Present tense, not perfect. This is the mirror image of the trap in Passage 1, and it is the most reliable mark on the paper once drilled.
  • "the things adults expect them to read" must keep the verb read. Ce que les adultes attendent d'eux means "what adults expect of them", which is a broader and different claim, and under segment marking that is a loss. Ce que les adultes voudraient qu'ils lisent keeps it.
  • Two subjunctive triggers. vouloir que and accepter que both take the subjunctive: veulent que leurs élèves lisent, accepter que le choix ne leur appartienne pas.
  • Note the shift on appartenir. As a standalone sentence it is le choix ne leur appartient pas; placed under accepter que it becomes appartienne. That is the visible subjunctive in this passage and the segment most likely to be marked for mood.
  • "by producing" → en publiant. English uses "by" plus a gerund; French uses en plus the present participle, never par produire. En produisant is the exact equivalent and is equally acceptable; en publiant is simply the more natural collocation with éditeurs.
  • "which some critics see as" → ce que… considèrent comme. The relative refers to the whole preceding clause, so it needs ce que, not que.
  • "is more likely to" → a plus de chances de. Est plus susceptible de also works well. What does not work is reaching for probable as a predicate of the person.
  • "the choice is not theirs to make" has to be rebuilt rather than translated. Le choix ne leur appartient pas carries it.
  • en in d'en commencer un autre: replacing de romans. Dropping it is a common and avoidable loss.

Passage 5: a family story

When my grandmother arrived in France in 1962, she spoke almost no French. She had been told that she would find work within a month. In fact it took her nearly two years. She never complained about it, at least not in front of us. It was only much later, when I was old enough to understand, that she admitted how hard those first winters had been. Today her grandchildren are teachers and engineers, and nobody asks them where they come from. I am not sure that this proves anything, except that a single generation can change everything.

Model version

Quand ma grand-mère est arrivée en France en 1962, elle ne parlait presque pas français. On lui avait dit qu'elle trouverait du travail dans un délai d'un mois. En réalité, il lui a fallu près de deux ans. Elle ne s'en est jamais plainte, du moins pas devant nous. Ce n'est que bien plus tard, quand j'ai eu l'âge de comprendre, qu'elle a avoué combien ces premiers hivers avaient été durs. Aujourd'hui, ses petits-enfants sont professeurs et ingénieurs, et personne ne leur demande d'où ils viennent. Je ne suis pas sûre que cela prouve quoi que ce soit, sinon qu'une seule génération peut tout changer.

What it was testing

  • Perfect against imperfect, in the same sentence. est arrivée is a single completed event; parlait is a state that was going on. Getting this pair right is worth more than any amount of vocabulary.
  • Reported speech. "She had been told that she would find" → pluperfect plus conditional: On lui avait dit qu'elle trouverait. The conditional is doing the job of the future.
  • "within a month" is a limit, not a comparison. En moins d'un mois means "in less than a month", which is a stronger claim than the English makes. Dans un délai d'un mois keeps it.
  • "it took her" → il lui a fallu. Impersonal falloir, with the person as an indirect object.
  • Agreement on se plaindre. Elle ne s'en est jamais plainte agrees with the subject because se plaindre is essentially pronominal: it exists only in the reflexive. This is not a general rule for pronominal verbs: where the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object (elles se sont parlé) or where a direct object follows (elle s'est lavé les mains), there is no agreement with the subject.
  • "only" → ne… que, and the cleft Ce n'est que… que… for the emphasis English carries with "It was only…".
  • Professions take no article after être, but only a bare, unmodified noun with a personal subject: elle est professeure, ses petits-enfants sont ingénieurs. After c'est the article is obligatory (c'est une professeure, never c'est professeure), and a modified noun takes one too (elle est une professeure reconnue).
  • ne pas être sûr que takes the subjunctive. The negative is what triggers it; je suis sûr que would take the indicative. Here the mood is invisible (prouver is an -er verb, so the two forms are identical), which does not make the rule optional. See the note below.
  • "anything" in a negative-leaning clause → quoi que ce soit, which contains a subjunctive of its own.
  • The English gives no clue whether the narrator is male or female, so sûr and sûre are both accepted.

Passage 6: work and technology

Nobody really knows what these jobs will look like in ten years. Employers keep repeating that workers will have to retrain, without ever explaining who is going to pay for it. Although the government has promised funding, very little of it has reached the people who need it most. What worries me is not that machines will replace us: it is that we will be asked to adapt on our own. If we had been given the training twenty years ago, the debate would be quite different today.

Model version

Personne ne sait vraiment à quoi ressembleront ces métiers dans dix ans. Les employeurs ne cessent de répéter que les travailleurs devront se reconvertir, sans jamais expliquer qui va payer la facture. Bien que le gouvernement ait promis des financements, très peu de ces financements sont parvenus à ceux qui en ont le plus besoin. Ce qui m'inquiète, ce n'est pas que les machines nous remplacent : c'est qu'on nous demandera de nous adapter tout seuls. Si l'on nous avait donné cette formation il y a vingt ans, le débat serait aujourd'hui tout autre.

What it was testing

  • dans dix ans, not en dix ans. Dans means "ten years from now"; en dix ans means "over a ten-year period". The English "in ten years" is ambiguous and the French forces you to choose.
  • Bien que takes the subjunctive: ait promis. This is the most frequently tested subjunctive trigger in the paper, and it is usually signalled by "although".
  • A mixed conditional. "If we had been given… the debate would be… today" is si plus pluperfect, then a present conditional, not a conditional perfect, because the consequence sits in the present. Students who default to aurait été lose it.
  • Ce n'est pas que… takes the subjunctive; the contrasting clause does not. Ce n'est pas que les machines nous remplacent is subjunctive because the clause is denied. The c'est que half asserts something, so it takes the indicative, and that is what lets you keep the English future: c'est qu'on nous demandera. Putting both in the subjunctive by parallelism is common in print but loses the future.
  • "keep repeating" → ne cessent de répéter. French has no "keep" plus gerund pattern, so the idea has to be carried by a verb: ne pas cesser de, ne pas arrêter de, continuer à, répéter sans cesse.
  • "very little of it" needs the link back. A bare très peu across a clause boundary is thin; très peu de ces financements or très peu d'entre eux supplies what the English "of it" is doing.
  • "pay for it" has an object. Qui va payer alone drops it; la facture or cela restores it.
  • "who need it most" → qui en ont le plus besoin: avoir besoin de forces the en.
  • "quite different" → tout autre, which is better than très différent, though the latter is not wrong.

A note on spotting the subjunctive

For -er verbs the subjunctive and the present indicative are identical in most persons: prouve, remplace, demande give nothing away. So you often cannot tell from a model version whether the writer applied the rule.

That is not a licence to ignore it. The marks sit on the verbs where the difference shows (ait, soit, puisse, veuille, fasse, sache, aille, appartienne), and those are exactly the ones examiners choose for the marked segments. Learn the triggers, then learn the irregular forms, in that order.

Using AQA's supporting text

If you sit AQA, the English-into-French passage comes with a supporting text in French. The specification states that it gives students "some of the vocabulary and structures which they will need for the translation". Most candidates read it once for gist and then ignore it.

Read it twice instead. On the second pass you are not reading for meaning but hunting for four specific things:

  1. Verbs with their prepositions: if the text has s'adapter à, that is the preposition you use.
  2. Tense and register: the supporting text tells you whether the passage lives in the present or the past, and whether it is formal enough to want the passive or an on construction.
  3. Topic nouns with their genders: free marks, and the commonest place to lose agreement.
  4. Whole phrases you can lift: if the structure is there, use it. It was put there for you.

A checklist for the last two minutes

  • Is there a blank anywhere? Fill it, even badly.
  • Every verb: right tense, right person, right agreement?
  • Every que clause: did anything trigger a subjunctive?
  • Every adjective: does it agree with the noun it belongs to?
  • Any "for X years" with a present-tense meaning: is it depuis plus present?
  • Any pronoun the English carries lightly ("of it", "for it", "one") that French needs as en or y?
  • Read the English version aloud in your head. Does it sound like something a person wrote?

More practice

If you want translations marked properly rather than self-assessed, that is most of what I do in A Level lessons. You can read more on the French tutoring page or start with a free 15-minute call.

The passages on this page are original and were written for this guide. Mark values and paper structures are taken from the awarding bodies' published specifications; always confirm the current requirements with your board.