Key Stage 2 languages · Grammar

KS2 languages: how a new language compares with English

A new language is never English with different words, and noticing exactly how it differs is part of learning it. In Key Stage 2 children compare the language their school teaches with English: words that look alike, word order, spelling and sounds, how verbs work and how nouns behave. Spotting similarities and differences helps them learn faster and understand English grammar better too.

Comparing a language with English, explained

The national curriculum asks children to understand how the language they are studying is similar to or different from English. Schools choose the language, and in most schools it is a modern one such as French, Spanish or German, although Latin and other ancient languages are also allowed. The aim is to make substantial progress in one language, and comparing with English is one of the ways teachers help: it turns learning into detective work, not just memorising.

The easiest similarities are words that look alike. French and English share many words that come from Latin, so “animal”, “important” and “musique” are quickly understood, and Spanish gives “animal”, “importante” and “música”. These are called cognates. They are not always reliable. Some words look the same but mean something different, known as false friends: the French “librairie” is a bookshop, not a library, and the Spanish “carpeta” is a folder, not a carpet. Children are taught to treat a familiar-looking word as a good first guess and then check.

Differences in grammar are where most of the learning happens. In French and Spanish, many describing words come after the noun (“un chat noir”). Nouns have a gender. Verbs change their endings for each person, and Spanish often leaves out the word for “I” because the ending shows it. Both use “to have” to give an age: “j’ai dix ans” and “tengo diez años”, which is literally “I have ten years”. Spanish has two verbs for “to be”, ser and estar, where English has one. German, which some schools teach, begins every noun with a capital letter, and Latin has no words for “the” or “a” at all.

Spelling, sounds and punctuation also differ. French has many silent letters at the end of words, Spanish spelling matches its sounds much more closely than English does, and the Spanish h is silent. Both languages use accents that English does not, and Spanish has an extra letter, ñ. French and Spanish do not use capital letters for days, months or languages, so it is “lundi” and “el español”. Spanish puts an upside-down question mark at the start of a question. Children learn to notice these things, not to be tripped up by them, and they often get a better grip on English as a result.

Words your child will hear

Cognate: A word that looks and means nearly the same in two languages, such as animal or musique.
False friend: A word that looks like an English word but means something different, such as the French librairie (bookshop).
Word order: The order in which words are placed in a sentence. It is often different from English.
Grammar: The rules that explain how words are put together in a language.
Pronunciation: How a word is said aloud, which may not follow English spelling rules.
Accent: A mark added to a letter, such as é or ç in French or á in Spanish, which is part of how the word is spelled and said.
Similarity: Something two languages share, such as many words with a common origin.

What the National Curriculum says

The programme of study for Key Stage 2 says:

Pupils should be taught to understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English
Teaching may be of any modern or ancient foreign language and should focus on enabling pupils to make substantial progress in one language.

Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Try it: compare three sentences

Compare these three sentences and list three similarities and three differences. English: “I am ten and I have a white cat.” French: “J’ai dix ans et j’ai un chat blanc.” Spanish: “Tengo diez años y tengo un gato blanco.”

Line them up in order and match each part. English: I am ten / and / I have / a white cat. French: j’ai dix ans / et / j’ai / un chat blanc. Spanish: tengo diez años / y / tengo / un gato blanco.
Notice what is similar. Each sentence has two parts joined by a small word for “and” (and, et, y). All three use the verb “have” for owning the cat (have, ai, tengo), and all three put a small word for “a” before the noun (a, un, un). The French and Spanish words for ten, dix and diez, look alike because both come from the Latin word decem.
Notice the first difference: age. English says “I am ten”, but French and Spanish say “I have ten years”, using avoir and tener, and they include the word for years.
Notice the second difference: where the colour goes. English says “white cat”, with the describing word first; French and Spanish say “cat white”, with the describing word after the noun.
Notice the third difference: Spanish has no word for “I”. Tengo already means “I have”, whereas the French needs j’ and English needs I. Then check your list aloud with an adult.

Similarities: all three join ideas with a small word for “and”; all use “have” for owning the cat; all put the word for “a” before the noun. Differences: French and Spanish use “have” for age and say “years”; the colour comes after the noun; Spanish leaves out the word for “I”. A bonus similarity: dix and diez both come from Latin.

Common mistakes and how to help

Believing every word can be translated one to one

Early words such as “cat” and “dog” translate neatly, so children assume everything will. Phrases like “I am ten” and “I like” do not translate word for word.

What helps: Show some examples where the languages express the same idea differently. Collect them in a notebook as “things that work differently”, which makes them interesting rather than annoying.

Trusting words that look familiar, such as thinking librairie means library

Many words really do match, so children start trusting every look-alike.

What helps: Call familiar words “good guesses to check”. Keep a short list of false friends as a game, and point out how the context of the sentence usually tells you which meaning fits.

Saying words as they are spelled in English

English spelling is the only system children know, so they apply its rules. “Maison” is not said as “may-son”, and the Spanish j is not said as in “jam”.

What helps: Listen first and say it with an adult, then look at the spelling. Learning that a new language has its own sound rules is a skill children can apply to every language later.

Deciding that a different way of saying something is silly or wrong

English habits feel natural because they are familiar, so “I have ten years” sounds odd to an English ear and children may laugh at it.

What helps: Turn it around: to a French or Spanish child, “I am ten” is the odd one, and English has plenty of strange phrases of its own. Treat each difference as a different way to say the same thing, not a mistake.

How to help at home

Hunt for look-alike words. Choose a page of a children’s book or a food label in the language and underline every word you could understand without a dictionary. Then ask which one might be a false friend, and look it up.
Keep a “different” notebook. Write down each surprise, such as saying “I have ten years”, or the describing word coming after the noun. After a few weeks your child will see how many patterns repeat.
Say it both ways. Pick an everyday sentence, say it in English and then in the language, and ask which words are in a different order. Keep it short and quick, and take turns choosing the sentence.
Listen without reading. Listen to a short song or a spoken story in the language together, without reading along. Ask your child which sounds were new to them and which words they recognised.

Leads on to

Key Stage 3: The present tense
Key Stage 3: Talking about the past
Key Stage 3: Talking about the future
Key Stage 3: Key grammatical structures
Key Stage 3: Voices and moods
Key Stage 3: Wider vocabulary
Key Stage 3: Giving and justifying opinions
Key Stage 3: Accurate grammar and spelling