Key Stage 2 languages · Speaking

KS2 languages: speaking in sentences and basic grammar

By the end of Key Stage 2 children are expected to speak in sentences, not just single words, using vocabulary they know, set phrases and basic language structures. They also begin to understand simple grammar: whether a noun is masculine or feminine, how common verbs change, and how word order differs from English.

Speaking in sentences, explained

Speaking in sentences begins with chunks and frames. A child learns a frame such as “J’ai un…” or “Tengo un…” (I have a…) and then swaps the last word for different nouns: a cat, a dog, a brother. Each swap makes a new sentence. Later they add a second part with “et” or “y” (and), or “mais” or “pero” (but), and then a describing word. Teachers call this building sentences, and it is the main way children move from repeating phrases to creating their own.

The first piece of grammar children meet is gender. In French and Spanish every noun is masculine or feminine, even for objects. The little word in front tells you: “un chat” and “el gato” are masculine, “une souris” and “la tortuga” are feminine. Some languages, such as German and Latin, also have a neuter form, which is why the curriculum mentions it, but French and Spanish nouns are only ever masculine or feminine. Children are taught to learn each noun together with its little word. Describing words must then agree with the noun: a black cat is “un chat noir” but a black mouse is “une souris noire”, and in Spanish it is “un gato negro” but “una tortuga negra”.

The second piece is the verb. The curriculum asks children to understand the conjugation of high-frequency verbs, which means how a verb changes for different people. They focus on a few that are used constantly: in French “avoir” (to have) and “être” (to be), giving “j’ai, tu as, il a” and “je suis, tu es, il est”, and in Spanish “tener” and “ser”, giving “tengo, tienes, tiene” and “soy, eres, es”. Spanish verb endings show who is doing the verb, so “tengo” already means “I have” without a separate word for “I”, while French nearly always needs the pronoun.

Teachers also draw attention to how the language differs from, or is similar to, English. Some things match: a simple sentence still follows the order of who, then the verb, then what (“J’ai un chat”, I have a cat), and many nouns are cognates. Others do not. Describing words usually come after the noun in Spanish (“un gato negro”) and often in French (“un chat noir”), where English puts them before. Negatives have different shapes: in Spanish “no” simply goes before the verb (“no tengo”), while in French the negative wraps around the verb (“je n’ai pas”). These ideas are taught through lots of talking and examples, often with colour coding, not through heavy terminology. The aim is for children to notice patterns and use them, so that their sentences are understood.

Words your child will hear

Noun: A word for a person, place or thing, such as “chat” (cat) or “casa” (house).
Gender: Whether a noun is masculine or feminine (or neuter in some languages).
Article: A small word before a noun: “un/une”, “le/la” in French and “un/una”, “el/la” in Spanish.
Adjective: A describing word, such as “noir” (black). It agrees with the noun in gender and number.
Verb: A doing or being word, such as “avoir” (to have).
Conjugation: The way a verb changes for different people: I have, you have, he has.
Agreement: When one word changes to match another, such as an adjective matching a feminine noun.

What the National Curriculum says

In Key Stage 2, pupils should be taught to:

Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
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

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

Try it: building a sentence in French

A Year 6 child wants to say “I have a black cat and a white mouse” in French. How do they build the sentence?

Start with the verb frame. “I have” is “j’ai”, from the verb “avoir”. The “je” shortens to “j’” before a vowel. They already know the frame “J’ai un…”.
Choose each noun and check its gender. “Chat” is masculine, so “un chat”. “Souris” is feminine, so “une souris”. They learned each noun with its article, which is why they know.
Add the describing words after the nouns and make them agree. A black cat is “un chat noir”. A white mouse is “une souris blanche”, because “blanc” becomes “blanche” with a feminine noun. In both cases the adjective comes after the noun, unlike English.
Join the two parts with “et” (and). The sentence is “J’ai un chat noir et une souris blanche.”
Check against English. They compare each part: the word order of colour and noun is reversed, the article changes with the gender and the colour word has a different ending for the feminine noun. For a Spanish version, “Tengo un gato negro y una tortuga blanca”, they can see the same patterns.

J’ai un chat noir et une souris blanche. (In Spanish, with a turtle in place of the mouse: Tengo un gato negro y una tortuga blanca.)

Common mistakes and how to help

Putting the describing word before the noun, as in English

Children transfer English word order, so “a black cat” becomes “un noir chat” or “un negro gato”.

What helps: Say “noun first, colour second” as a chant and practise with real objects. Keep a short list of exceptions for later; many common French adjectives of size, such as “petit” and “grand”, come before the noun.

Ignoring gender and using “un” or “le” for everything

English has no gender for objects, so the idea that a table or a book is masculine or feminine feels pointless. Children then guess or skip the article.

What helps: Learn every new noun with its article, and use colour (for example blue for masculine and red for feminine) when writing vocabulary. The patterns will become automatic through repetition.

Using the dictionary form of the verb

A word list or dictionary gives the infinitive, “avoir” or “tener”, so children drop it straight into a sentence and say “Je avoir un chat” or “Yo tener un gato”. In English the verb barely changes, so they do not expect it to.

What helps: Make a set of verb cards that show the forms for “I”, “you” and “he or she”, and always practise them in a short sentence. Focus on the form for “I” first, since children use it most.

Putting the negative in the English place

English adds “do” and “not” (“I do not have”), so children look for a word for “do”. French has no such word: “ne” goes before the verb and “pas” after it. Spanish simply puts “no” before the verb.

What helps: Compare positive and negative sentences side by side: “tengo hermanos” and “no tengo hermanos”, “je suis grand” and “je ne suis pas grand”. Speakers of French often drop “ne” in casual talk, but schools teach both parts, which is what to aim for in writing.

How to help at home

Swap one word at a time. Write a simple sentence from class on a piece of paper. Change one word each turn (the animal, the colour, the person) and say the new sentence aloud. Your child sees how one frame makes many sentences.
Colour-code gender. Choose one colour for masculine words and another for feminine ones, and write new nouns in the right colour with their article. A quick look at the page shows whether the noun is masculine or feminine.
Describe what you can see. Pick an object in the room and make a sentence about it using a frame, such as “I have a red book”. Keep it light and let your child correct you if you deliberately make a mistake.
Build a sentence together. Take turns adding a word to build a longer sentence, starting with “I have” and adding noun, colour and “and”. It is a fast game that practises word order without any writing.
Compare with English. Ask your child to tell you one thing about the language that is the same as English and one thing that is different. Spotting differences is part of learning grammar, and you can talk about it without needing to know the language.