Goals What you'll be able to do
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to…
- 🗳️ Talk about elections and citizenship in France.
- 📋 Understand the conditions for voting and the registration procedure.
- 🔁 Master the expression of opposition and concession (mais, malgré, au lieu de, contrairement à, alors que, pourtant, au contraire…).
- 📌 Use ce qui / ce que to talk about things or ideas without naming them.
- 🎵 Recognise the intonation of conviction, disagreement and surprise.
Discover 🗳️ First look
To vote in France, you must be registered on the electoral roll of your commune (town hall district). Below is the official explanation from service-public.fr (the French government services portal) + a campaign poster:
S'inscrire sur les listes électorales
📍 Où et quand dois-je m'inscrire ?
Vous pouvez déposer votre demande d'inscription en mairie, à tout moment de l'année.
📅 À partir de quand puis-je voter ?
Si vous faites votre demande avant le 31 décembre d'une année, vous pouvez voter l'année suivante.
✅ Quelles sont les conditions à remplir ?
Il faut être majeur (18 ans), de nationalité française, et habiter dans la commune au moins six mois de l'année en cours.
🔁 Faut-il se réinscrire chaque année ?
Non. Ce n'est pas nécessaire.
🏠 Dois-je me réinscrire si je déménage ?
Oui. Même si vous restez dans la même ville, vous changez peut-être de bureau de vote. Sinon, les courriers de la mairie seront envoyés à votre ancienne adresse.
⚖️ L'inscription est-elle obligatoire ?
L'inscription est obligatoire, mais le vote ne l'est pas en France, contrairement à d'autres pays (Belgique, Australie…).
Président de la République
Exercise 1 — True or false? Read carefully
Read the government page carefully and mark each statement True or False.
- Registering on the electoral roll is done at the town hall (mairie).
- You can register up to 30 December.
- You can vote immediately after registering. (you have to wait until the following year)
- People under 18 cannot vote.
- Foreigners can vote in French national elections. (you must be a French citizen)
- You only need to re-register if you move.
- In France, voting is compulsory. (only registration is)
🎙️ Reactions · 5 people on the street
Exercise 2 — Registered or not? On the rolls?
For each person, mark whether they are registered on the rolls (✓) or not (✗), and give the reason.
- Person 1 →
- Person 2 →
- Person 3 →
- Person 4 →
- Person 5 →
Vocabulary Words to remember
🗳️ Voting & elections
📋 Registration & conditions
💬 Political opinion
Grammar — Opposition & concession Contrast linkers
Opposition contrasts two opposing ideas (≈ "X but Y"). Concession acknowledges one idea, then states something unexpected (≈ "although X, still Y"). French has many connectors for this — the choice depends on register and on the nuance you want.
| Connector | Construction | Example |
|---|---|---|
| malgré | + noun | Malgré le mauvais temps, ils sont sortis. ≈ "In spite of / despite the bad weather, they went out." Note: malgré takes a noun, where English "despite" works the same way, but English "although" takes a clause — careful when translating. |
| au lieu de | + infinitive / noun | Au lieu de regarder la télé, lis un livre ! ≈ "Instead of watching TV, read a book!" |
| contrairement à | + noun | Contrairement à mes amis, je ne vote plus. ≈ "Unlike my friends, I don't vote any more." |
| mais | + clause | Il s'intéresse à la politique, mais il n'a pas voté. ≈ "He's interested in politics, but he didn't vote." The plain "but". |
| même si | + indicative (strong hypothesis) | Même si je suis toujours inscrit, je ne vote plus. ≈ "Even if / even though I'm still registered, I don't vote any more." Note: French même si takes the indicative — unlike English "even if X were…" which takes a subjunctive-style form. |
| alors que · tandis que | + indicative (two simultaneous, contrasting facts) | Elle est blonde, alors que ses frères sont bruns. Dans la classe, certains travaillent, tandis que d'autres bavardent. ≈ "She's blonde, whereas her brothers are dark-haired." / "Some are working, while others chat." Closest to English "whereas / while". |
| pourtant | + clause (unexpected result) | Il s'intéresse à la politique. Pourtant, il ne vote pas. ≈ "He's interested in politics. And yet, he doesn't vote." ⚠️ False friend: pourtant is NOT "however" in the neutral sense — it carries surprise, like "and yet". |
| au contraire | strong contrast, usually at the start | Elle n'est pas fatiguée, au contraire, elle est en pleine forme. ≈ "She isn't tired — on the contrary, she's full of energy." |
| en revanche | contrasts two things, more written / formal | Le vote n'est pas obligatoire en France. En revanche, l'inscription
l'est. ≈ "Voting isn't compulsory in France. Registration, on the other hand, is." |
🎯 Ce qui / ce que — talking about ideas
To talk about an abstract or unspecified thing (an idea, a situation), French uses ce qui (subject) or ce que (direct object). Think of them as a two-word version of English "what" / "the thing that…":
| Form | Role | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ce qui | subject | Tu sais ce qui se passe ? (= "Do you know what's happening?" — "what" is the subject of "is happening") |
| ce que / ce qu' | direct object | Voilà tout ce que je veux. (= "That's all (that) I want." — "what" is the object of "want") |
| 📌 With « c'est… » (it's…) | Ce qui est ennuyeux, c'est qu'il y a une différence entre ce qu'ils disent et ce qu'ils font. (= "What's annoying is that there's a gap between what they say and what they do.") |
|
💡 Anglophone tip
English "what" is one word that covers both subject and object roles: "I know what happened" / "I know what you said." French splits it according to grammatical role: ce qui (subject) vs ce que (object). A quick test: try replacing "what" with "the thing that" — if "that" works as a subject ("the thing that happened"), you want ce qui; if "that" works as an object ("the thing that you said"), you want ce que. Also note: French can never drop the "ce", even though English freely drops "that" ("I know what he said", not "I know ce que he said" — but in French it must always be ce que).
Practice Try it out
Exercise 3 — Politics in question 🤔 Matching
Match each beginning to its ending (a-e).
Beginnings
- Je ne suis pas la politique, pourtant…
- Les gens ne prennent pas la politique au sérieux, alors que…
- Elle a toujours voulu s'inscrire sur les listes électorales, mais…
- Même si je vote régulièrement…
- Nous habitons ici depuis 6 mois : nous pouvons enfin…
Endings
- je vois bien qu'il y a un problème de politique en France.
- cela a des conséquences sur leur vie.
- elle n'a pas la nationalité française.
- nous inscrire sur les listes de la commune.
- beaucoup de gens ne votent pas.
- Beginning 1 →
- Beginning 2 →
- Beginning 3 →
- Beginning 4 →
- Beginning 5 →
Exercise 4 — Want my opinion? 💭 Fill in the connectors
Complete with ce qui · ce que · alors que · contrairement à · pourtant · au contraire.
mes parents qui votent à chaque élection, je suis pour l'abstention : c'est la liberté. est ennuyeux avec les hommes politiques, c'est qu'il y a toujours une différence entre ils disent et ils font. C'est fini, ils l'avaient dit pendant les élections, les choses ne changent pas. mes amis pensent que voter est important, moi, je ne suis pas convaincu.
Exercise 5 — Your opinion on voting 🗳️ Your turn to write
Write a short opinion piece (120-180 words) about voting, politics or civic participation in your country or in France. Use at least 5 different opposition connectors and 1 use of ce qui / ce que. The AI will give feedback 🤖.
Communicate · Your turn! Real-world tasks
With your partner, answer the following questions.
- Do you vote? Why (not)?
- Do all elections feel equally important to you? (General / local / European / referendum…)
- Do you talk about politics with your family? How does the conversation usually go?
- Is voting compulsory in your country? If not, do you think it should be? If yes, is that a good thing? (Compulsory in Australia; not in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland…)
- In your view, does the youth vote count? Why?
Pronunciation · Au contraire ! Tone changes everything
In French, intonation changes the meaning of a sentence enormously. The same string of words can express conviction ("Mais oui !"), disagreement ("Au contraire !"), surprise ("Tu crois ?!") or irony. English does the same thing of course — but French intonation has a slightly different melodic shape, with sharper rises and falls than typical British or American English.
What's the intent? C / D / S / I
For each sentence, indicate whether it expresses Conviction, Disagreement, Surprise or Irony.
- « Mais oui ! Il faut le faire ! »
- « Au contraire, ce n'est pas du tout difficile ! »
- « Comment ?! Tu ne me crois pas ?! »
- « C'est faux, vous nous trompez ! »
- « Ah oui, bien sûr, c'est sûr ! » (sarcastic tone)
- « Je le sais, il y a un problème. »
🎯 Your turn: say each sentence twice with two different intents (e.g. conviction, then irony). Play with your voice!
Voting in France 🇫🇷 French electoral system
🏛️ The 5 main elections in France
📊 Voting in numbers
(same as UK / US / Australia / Canada)
in France
presidential elections
🌍 Compulsory voting around the world
In around a dozen countries (Belgium, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore…), voting is compulsory — failure to vote brings a fine. The result: very high turnout (90 %+ in Belgium, ~90 % in Australia). France has chosen the principle of freedom: each person decides for themselves. The downside is that abstention sometimes reaches 50 %, which worries many democrats.
🌐 Compared to English-speaking democracies
Compared with the UK, US, Canada or Australia, France has a few distinctive features. The two-round system for presidential and legislative elections is unusual in the English-speaking world — most Anglophone countries use first-past-the-post (UK, US, Canada) or preferential voting (Australia). The French directly elect the head of state (the President), unlike in the UK or Canada (parliamentary system) or the US (Electoral College). France also has a strict separation of church and state (laïcité) that's far more aggressive than the UK's established church or the US's "wall of separation". Finally, French campaigns are shorter and much more publicly funded than American campaigns — TV ads are banned, donations capped, and equal airtime is enforced by law.