How French dictation is checked

In a French dictation, write the words you hear in the same order. The check compares your answer with the recording's text. A sentence with a similar meaning can still contain different words.

Check spelling and accents

Capital letters and punctuation don't affect the result. Spelling and accents do. For example, ou means "or", while où means "where". They sound the same, so use the meaning of the sentence to decide which one to write.

Keep the short forms used in the recording. Write j’aime when that is what you hear. Replacing it with je aime doesn't give the correct French form.

Use the result to decide what to replay

If a word doesn't match, listen to that part again before changing your answer. Check whether you missed a word, added one, or wrote a different spelling. Small words count too.

Then read the whole sentence once more. If the sound seems right but the spelling still looks wrong, check the accents and the words around it. Revise your answer using what you hear and what the sentence means.