Listening comprehension
Short recordings and longer ones: picking out the message, the details and the opinions, answered in English.
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Listening comprehension, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know how the listening paper works
Listening is a quarter of the GCSE with either board. AQA sets it as Paper 1: 35 minutes and 40 marks at Foundation, or 45 minutes and 50 marks at Higher, counting five minutes' reading time at the start and two minutes' checking time at the end. Section A is comprehension (32 marks at Foundation, 40 at Higher), with every question in English, answered in English or by ticking, choosing or matching, and Section B is the dictation. Pearson Edexcel sets it as Paper 2: 50 marks at both tiers, 45 minutes at Foundation and an hour at Higher, each with five minutes' reading time, and 40 marks of comprehension before a 10-mark dictation. You can make notes at any time, and there is no dictionary.
Use the reading time to predict what you will hear
Read every question in the five minutes before the first recording. Underline the question word (who, when, why) and the detail asked for, then think of the French you might hear: a question about the weather primes you for il fait beau, il pleut and il fait froid. Knowing what you are listening for turns a stream of sound into a search.
Use every hearing of each recording
In AQA's Section A each recording plays twice, and in Edexcel's three times, with pauses built in. On the first hearing, get the gist and jot rough notes in English or French; on the next, check the details and fill the gaps. If an answer came early, use the last hearing to confirm it.
Pick out the message, the details and the opinions
Questions ask for the gist (what is the speaker mainly talking about?), a detail (a time, a price, a place) or an opinion and its reason. Opinions are flagged by phrases like j'adore, je ne supporte pas, à mon avis and le problème, c'est que. Keep listening after parce que or car, because the reason is often a second mark.
Listen for the time frame and the negatives
One short word can change an answer. Ne ... pas and ne ... jamais turn a yes into a no, and in casual speech the ne may vanish, leaving only pas. Hier, maintenant and demain place the action in time, as do verb forms like je suis allé, je vais and j'irai.
Expect distractors and changes of mind
Speakers often mention one option and then settle on another: je voulais aller au cinéma, mais finalement nous sommes allés à la piscine means they went to the pool. Mais, finalement, par contre and maintenant je préfère signal the switch, so wait for the end of the sentence before you commit.
Be quick with numbers, times and prices
From 70 to 99, French numbers are built from others: soixante-dix is 70 (sixty-ten), quatre-vingts is 80 (four twenties) and quatre-vingt-quinze is 95. Pairs like deux and douze, or six and seize, are easy to mix up, so write numbers as digits the moment you hear them. Know how times and prices are said: à huit heures et demie, douze euros cinquante.
Hear the words inside a stream of sound
Spoken French runs words together. Silent endings and liaison mean les enfants sounds like one word, and il parle sounds exactly like ils parlent, so let the rest of the sentence tell you who is meant. Listen for the small words that carry meaning, such as ne, en, y and que.
Listening comprehension key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Gist
- The overall message of a recording: what it is mainly about, without every detail. A gist question can be answered from the general sense of what you hear.
- Distractor
- Something mentioned in a recording that sounds like the answer but is not, such as a plan the speaker then changes. Listen to the end before you choose.
- Time frame
- When something happens: past, present or future. Time words such as hier or demain, and the form of the verb, tell you which.
- Cognate
- A word that looks like its English meaning, such as la musique or important. Spoken, a cognate can sound quite different from English, so listen for the shape of the word.
- Opinion
- What a speaker thinks of something, which may be positive, negative or mixed. Phrases such as j'adore, je déteste and ce n'est pas mal carry it.
- parce que and car
- Because: the reason that follows is often worth a mark of its own in an opinion question.
- mais and par contre
- But and on the other hand: they signal a contrast or a change of mind, which is where many answers hide.
- Liaison
- Sounding a silent final consonant when the next word starts with a vowel, so that des amis is heard with a z in the middle. It makes words run together.
Common mistakes in Listening comprehension
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Writing down the first option you hear and missing the change of mind that comes after it.
Speakers often turn one option down before giving their answer. Wait for mais, finalement or maintenant, and use the next hearing to confirm what was finally chosen.
Answering a question about the past with what the speaker usually does.
Check the time frame of the question, then listen for the matching verb and time words: samedi dernier, je suis allé answers a past question, but normalement, je vais does not.
Missing a negative, so the answer says the opposite of what was meant.
Negatives are short and easy to lose at speed, and the ne is often dropped in speech. Note each pas, jamais or rien as you hear it, and read your answer back against your notes.
Writing two possible answers to be safe, or adding details that contradict your answer.
Give exactly the number of details the question asks for, in clear English. If you are torn between two, choose one: an answer that includes something contradictory can lose the mark.
Mixing up the numbers from 70 to 99, such as hearing quatre-vingt-dix as 80.
Practise them until they are automatic: soixante-dix is 70, quatre-vingts is 80 and quatre-vingt-dix is 90. Write each number as digits the moment you hear it.