Theme 1 — People and lifestyle (les gens et le style de vie)
Theme 1 is the biggest of the three AQA French themes and covers three tightly connected topic areas that appear across all four papers — Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.
The three sub-topics at a glance
| Code | Title | Key vocab clusters |
|---|---|---|
| T1.1 | Identity and relationships | family structure, personality adjectives, relationships, marriage/partnership |
| T1.2 | Healthy living and lifestyle | diet, exercise, sleep, health problems, lifestyle advice |
| T1.3 | Education and work | school subjects, school rules, post-16 options, career plans |
Why this theme matters in the exam
AQA photo cards, role-plays and essay tasks draw heavily from Theme 1. You will almost certainly be asked to:
- describe yourself or a family member
- discuss your school routine or future plans
- give an opinion on healthy living
Exam tip: always blend all three sub-topics in your speaking general-conversation bank. A strong candidate weaves identity, school and lifestyle into one fluent answer.
Core language for the whole theme
Opinion verbs (use these constantly)
- Je pense que / Je crois que — I think that
- Je trouve que / Il me semble que — I find that / It seems to me that
- À mon avis — In my opinion
- Selon moi — According to me
- J'estime que — I consider that (Higher)
Connectives for extended writing
- De plus / En outre — Moreover / Furthermore
- Cependant / Pourtant — However / Yet
- Par conséquent — As a result
- D'un côté… de l'autre — On one hand… on the other
- En revanche — On the other hand
Tense toolkit for Theme 1
Theme 1 questions almost always expect three tenses:
| Tense | Use for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present | current habits, personality, school now | Je vais au lycée… |
| Perfect (passé composé) | specific past events | L'année dernière, j'ai visité… |
| Future / Conditional | plans, wishes | J'aimerais travailler comme… |
Adding an imperfect (childhood memories) or a si-clause rockets your score into the top bands.
Vocabulary building strategy
AQA publishes a defined vocabulary list for each theme. Study these in semantic clusters:
- Family vocabulary (T1.1): 25–30 words
- Food and health (T1.2): 30–35 words
- School and jobs (T1.3): 30–35 words
Flashcards for all three sub-topics are linked below. Aim to activate — not just recognise — each word: can you use it in a sentence?
Model paragraph (all three sub-topics in 80 words)
Je m'appelle Sophie et j'ai seize ans. Je vis avec mes parents et ma petite sœur dans une ville en banlieue de Lyon. Au lycée, j'aime bien les sciences, mais les maths me semblent difficiles. Pour garder la forme, je fais du jogging trois fois par semaine et j'essaie de manger sainement — beaucoup de légumes et peu de sucreries. Après le bac, j'aimerais étudier la médecine pour devenir médecin généraliste.
Notice: present tense throughout with a conditional at the end — add one more past tense to hit three.
⚠Common mistakes— Common mistakes on Theme 1
- Forgetting adjective agreement — Elle est content ✗ → Elle est contente ✓
- Using "avoir" for age then forgetting it — J'ai seize ans not Je suis seize ans
- Guessing cognates for jobs — docteur ✓ but infirmier/infirmière (nurse) must be learnt
- Present tense only — nearly every task rewards a second and third tense
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-deep-french