GCSE French Vocabulary: Healthy Living and Lifestyle

The reformed GCSE French is built on a defined vocabulary list: the DfE subject content requires about 1,200 words and phrases for Foundation tier and a further 500 for Higher tier, most of them chosen for their frequency in modern French, and every reading, listening and writing task is written from that list. Each exam board publishes its own list; the words here are taken from AQA's list, the most widely taught, and most of them are high-frequency words found on other boards' lists as well. This material works on the words of one topic: healthy living and lifestyle — food and balanced meals, illness and medicine, aches and injuries, sleep, smoking, vaping and alcohol, and the verbs for avoiding, stopping and improving.

The quiz has twelve questions. Each shows a short French sentence with one word or phrase in capitals, and you choose its English meaning from four options. The sentences give context, so you practise the skill the reading paper also tests: working out meaning from the rest of the sentence. The words tested are équilibré, éviter, arrêter de, se coucher, avoir mal à la tête, le médicament, faible, améliorer, vapoter, and three Higher words: se casser (la jambe), se reposer and conseiller de. Words marked Higher tier are on the Higher list only. The explanation of each question gives the meaning, related forms and, where useful, the word that is often confused with it.

The flashcards give eighteen words and phrases with their English meanings: la santé, sain, équilibré, malade and la maladie, le médecin and le médicament, avoir mal à, fatigué, faible and fort, fumer and vapoter, l'alcool and la drogue, éviter, arrêter de, se coucher and se lever, améliorer, la nourriture and la boisson, le fast-food, plus Higher words.

The written work has eight tasks to complete on paper: translating sentences both ways, a gap-fill text, a short reading text about a teenager's habits with questions in English, sorting healthy and unhealthy habits, a 50-word paragraph about your own lifestyle, working out derived words (sainement, amélioration, fumeur, malheureusement), and explaining pairs such as se reposer and rester. Each task comes with a model answer and marking points.

All sentences and texts are original and use high-frequency vocabulary; nothing is taken from any exam paper. Use the flashcards first, then the quiz to test yourself in context, then the written tasks to use the words actively.

• Understand and use key words for food, health and illness
• Talk about habits with éviter, arrêter de, se coucher and se lever
• Describe aches and illness with avoir mal à and être malade
• Work out the meaning of a word from its sentence context
• Recognise derived forms such as sainement and fumeur

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the DfE GCSE subject content for French, German and Spanish (September 2025 version: vocabulary requirements) and the AQA GCSE French (8652) vocabulary list (topic: Healthy living and lifestyle).