Dictation: Foundation Level
🎧 Dictation: Foundation Level
AQA Foundation dictation passages use everyday vocabulary and clear sentence structures. You can expect:
Earn the mark scheme marks
💡 Exam Tips & Common Errors
- Do not stop writing during listen 1 — mark gaps with // and keep moving. You will fill them on listen 2.
- After the third listen, scan your answer systematically: (1) every verb after avoir — is it -é? (2) every être verb — does the past participle agree? (3) every ils/elles verb — does it end in -ent? (4) every feminine adjective — does it end in -e?
- Write accents clearly — an ambiguous mark between é and e could cost you a Grid B mark. Practise making accents sharp and consistent by hand.
- If you miss a word entirely, leave a blank rather than inventing a word. An invented wrong word cannot earn marks and wastes your mental energy on listen 2.
- Practise with real GCSE Foundation dictation texts — 2–3 sentences per day in the weeks before the exam. The vocabulary clusters you hear in practice will appear in the real exam.
❌ Common error: Mes amis sont allé au cinéma hier.
✓ Correct: Mes amis sont allés au cinéma hier.
Why it costs marks: When aller is used in the perfect tense with être, the past participle allé must agree with the subject. Mes amis is plural masculine → add -s: allés. The -s is completely silent in speech, which is why students omit it. But Grid B specifically tests this agreement. Every time the subject is plural, check the past participle for -s.
❌ Common error: Elle aime jouer au tennis le weekend. (written as: elle aime jouée au tennis)
✓ Correct: Elle aime jouer au tennis le weekend.
Why it costs marks: After aimer and other opinion verbs, the following verb is always the infinitive (-er, -ir, -re): jouer. Never use the past participle (-é) here. The pattern 'verb of liking + infinitive' is fixed: j'aime manger, je préfère sortir, je voudrais aller. Only use -é when there is an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) before it.