Trips and excursions (Edexcel GCSE French): Revision Notes
Trips and excursions
Planning an excursion
When discussing trips and excursions in French, you'll need specific vocabulary and phrases to ask questions, make suggestions, and provide information about tourist activities. Mastering these essential expressions will help you navigate tourist situations confidently and engage in meaningful conversations about travel experiences.
These phrases form the foundation of travel-related conversations in French. Practice them regularly as they appear frequently in GCSE speaking and listening exercises.
Essential questions and phrases
Asking about local attractions:
- Qu'est-ce qu'on peut voir dans la région? - What is there to see in the area?
- Pouvez-vous me recommander une visite? - Could you recommend an excursion?
Discussing duration and timing:
- Le tour dure combien de temps? - How long does the tour last?
- Il y a une visite en car à trois heures cet après-midi - There is a coach excursion at three o'clock this afternoon
- La visite en bateau dure deux heures - The boat tour lasts for two hours
Asking about costs and purchases:
- Ça coûte combien? - How much does it cost?
- Je voudrais acheter une carte - I would like to buy a map
Travel arrangements:
- Je voyage avec ma sœur - I am travelling with my sister
- On peut faire une sortie dans la ville? - Could we go on an outing to the town?
Practical Conversation Example:
Tourist: Qu'est-ce qu'on peut voir dans la région? Guide: "Il y a un château magnifique et un musée d'art." Tourist: Le tour dure combien de temps? Guide: "La visite dure environ deux heures." Tourist: Ça coûte combien? Guide: "C'est quinze euros par personne."
Useful vocabulary
| French Term | English Translation |
|---|---|
| une excursion | an excursion |
| une visite | a visit/tour |
| le tour | the tour |
| le paysage | the landscape |
| un car | a coach |
| un bateau | a boat |
| une carte | a map |
| une sortie | an outing |
Expressing likes and dislikes
Understanding how to express opinions about trips and excursions is crucial for describing your experiences and preferences. This vocabulary allows you to communicate your feelings about different activities and helps create more engaging conversations about your travel experiences.
Expressing positive opinions
Basic likes:
- Use aimer / aimer bien (to like)
- Use adorer (to love)
- Use préférer (to prefer)
The intensity increases from "aimer bien" → "aimer" → "adorer". Choose the verb that best matches the strength of your opinion.
Positive adjectives with c'est/c'était:
- agréable (pleasant)
- extraordinaire (extraordinary)
- essentiel (essential)
- étonnant (amazing)
- génial (great)
- excellent (excellent)
- idéal (ideal)
- passionnant (exciting)
Expressing negative opinions
Basic dislikes:
- Use détester (to hate)
- Use ne pas aimer (to dislike)
Negative adjectives with c'est/c'était:
- ennuyeux (boring)
- inutile (useless)
- inquiétant (worrying)
- nul (rubbish)
- terrible (terrible)
Example sentences in context
Positive experiences:
- J'adore les visites guidées parce que c'est très intéressant - I love guided tours because they're very interesting
- Le paysage était extraordinaire pendant notre excursion - The landscape was extraordinary during our excursion
Negative experiences:
- Je déteste les tours en car parce que c'est ennuyeux - I hate coach tours because they're boring
- La visite était terrible à cause du mauvais temps - The visit was terrible because of the bad weather
Opinion Structure Practice:
Structure: Subject + opinion verb + object + parce que + c'est/c'était + adjective
- Je + préfère + les excursions en bateau + parce que + c'est + passionnant
- Nous + détestons + les visites guidées + parce que + c'était + ennuyeux
Describing past experiences
When describing recent trips or excursions, you'll often need to use past tenses while incorporating opinion vocabulary. This skill is essential for both speaking and writing assessments where you need to recount and evaluate your experiences.
Key Grammar Point: Although décris is in the present tense, the word récente indicates that you are being asked to provide an answer in the past tense. Pay careful attention to these temporal clues in exam questions.
Sample description
Worked Example: Past Experience Description
Pendant mes dernières vacances, j'ai visité un petit village à la montagne. Je l'ai trouvé vraiment génial car il y avait beaucoup de belles maisons et un musée d'art.
During my last holidays, I visited a small village in the mountains. I found it really great because there were lots of beautiful houses and an art museum.
Analysis of key elements:
- Past tense: j'ai visité, je l'ai trouvé, il y avait
- Opinion expression: vraiment génial
- Justification: car + explanation
Translation practice
French to English:
- Le paysage est étonnant → The landscape is amazing
- La vue était extraordinaire → The view was extraordinary
English to French:
- The excursion was boring → L'excursion était ennuyeuse
- I love boat trips → J'adore les excursions en bateau
Exam practice
Understanding the format and expectations of GCSE French exams is crucial for success. The trips and excursions topic appears regularly across different skill areas, so familiarising yourself with common question types will improve your performance.
Listening comprehension format
In GCSE exams, you may encounter listening exercises where you need to identify advantages and disadvantages of different trips. The format typically involves:
- Completing tables with key information
- Identifying speakers' opinions
- Not writing in full sentences (bullet points or key words acceptable)
- Focusing on advantages and disadvantages of different trip options
Critical Exam Tips:
- Listen for opinion markers: aimer, adorer, préférer, détester, c'est, c'était
- Note time references: récent, dernières vacances, hier, pendant
- Identify transport methods: car, bateau, train, à pied
- Recognise descriptive adjectives for both positive and negative opinions
In listening exercises, speakers often change their opinions mid-sentence using "mais" (but). Listen carefully for these contrasts as they can completely change the meaning of their response.
Key Points to Remember:
- Use specific verbs for different levels of liking: aimer bien → aimer → adorer
- Pay attention to tense clues - "récente" suggests past tense answers even with present tense questions
- Structure opinions clearly using c'est/c'était + adjective
- Learn transport vocabulary as it frequently appears in excursion contexts
- Practice both asking about and describing trips for comprehensive exam preparation
- Master the opinion + justification structure using "parce que" or "car"