JAMB French syllabus.

About this syllabus official

Summarised from the examining body's own published syllabus. 8 topics, verified 2026-10-24.

Current UTME syllabus as served by IBASS on 2026-10-24; JAMB does not print the applicable years in this document.

Structure (sections, topics, contents and objectives) summarised from JAMB's publicly published UTME syllabus, with citation and link. The document itself is not reproduced or redistributed.

Source: https://ibass.jamb.gov.ng/e-syllabus

Source: https://ibass.jamb.gov.ng/static/media/French.170eeaabf96471e303c5.pdf

General objectives

• assess written comprehension in French
• apply the principles governing the structure and use of written French
• identify how French sounds work in speech production
• examine the culture of Francophone West Africa and France in relation (where possible) to home country

Topics

1. Written comprehension (Text 1, Text 2) (SS 1-3)

• two texts (Text 1, Text 2)
• topics of general and emergent interest, e.g. love, life, death, politics, marriage, health, communication, child trafficking, cultism, travel, corruption, money-laundering

You should be able to:

• deduce answers to questions on the content, intent and style of proposed texts (Text 1, Text 2)
• apply reasoning skills

2. I. Identification of basic form classes (SS 1-3)

• nouns: simple/compound, singular/plural, masculine/feminine
• pronouns: personal, impersonal, demonstrative, possessive and relative
• verbs: reflexive and non-reflexive, their moods and tenses
• adjectives: qualifying, possessive, interrogative, demonstrative, indefinite (e.g. nul), numeral (e.g. dix) and ordinal (e.g. dixième)
• adverbs, common forms: with -ment (e.g. lentement); with préposition + noun (e.g. par avion, à cheval, en voiture, par bateau)
• adverbs, special forms (e.g. bien, vite, mal, mieux, le mieux, pire, le pis, ne…que)
• adverbs, types: manner (e.g. debout, facilement); purpose (pour/afin de + infinitive); cause and consequence (pour + perfect infinitive, à cause de + noun); concession (malgré + noun); place (y, en, ici, là, là-haut, partout); time (hier, aujourd'hui, avant-hier, après, demain, la veille, le matin, dans un mois)
• prépositions: simple (e.g. à, de, avec, avant, sur, dans) and compound (e.g. à côté de, au milieu de)
• conjunctions: of co-ordination (e.g. mais, ou, et, donc, car, cependant, ne…ni) and of subordination (e.g. afin que, quoique, à condition que, pour que, parce que)
• articles: definite, indefinite and partitive
• contraction, e.g. à + le = au, à + les = aux

You should be able to:

• identify what constitutes the basic structures of written French
• use the principles governing the structure of written French to determine acceptability, e.g. to transform one form or class into another
• apply the structure to convey diverse messages

3. II. Assessment of vocabulary span (SS 1-3)

• words in contemporary contexts: meaning, use, opposites, synonyms
• faux amis (e.g. librairie/library, rester/to rest, blesser/to bless)

You should be able to:

• identify what constitutes the basic structures of written French
• use the principles governing the structure of written French to determine acceptability
• apply the structure to convey diverse messages

4. III. Importance of word order (SS 1-3)

• affirmative sentences
• interrogative sentences
• imperative sentences
• passive voice formation

You should be able to:

• identify meaning of words
• identify meaningful constructed sentences

5. IV. Identification and application of basic processes in language structure (SS 1-3)

• conjugation in all tenses except l'imparfait du subjonctif, le passé composé du subjonctif and le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif
• negation (e.g. ne…pas, ne…plus, ne…rien, nul ne, ne…ni…ni, ne…personne, personne…ne, aucun…ne, rien ne…)
• agreement (e.g. les beaux arts, il les a vues, les photos)
• pluralisation (e.g. cheval/chevaux, beau/beaux, belle/belles)
• derivation: adjective to adverb (lent–lentement); adjective to adjective (un–premier); adjective to noun (bon–bonté, riche–richesse)
• degrees of comparison (plus…que, moins…que, aussi…que) and special forms (bon, meilleur, le meilleur, la meilleure, mauvais, pire, le pire)

You should be able to:

• apply communicative skills

6. V. Use of French in set expressions (SS 1-3)

• proverbs (e.g. tel père tel fils, petit à petit l'oiseau fait son nid)
• idioms (e.g. avoir une faim de loup, crier sur le toit, mourir de peur)
• conventional stretches (e.g. enchanté, c'est dommage, c'est formidable, stationnement interdit)
• common figures of speech: métaphore (Mon père est un lion), simile (Elle est maigre comme un clou), hyperbole (Il avait tellement faim qu'il a mangé toute une vache)
• speech acts (e.g. proposer, conseiller, regretter, admirer, espérer, interroger, reprocher, s'accorder)

You should be able to:

• complete common proverbs and idioms in French
• deduce the meaning of idioms and proverbs in French
• make appropriate use of these special terms

7. Workings of French sounds (SS 1-3)

• sound discrimination (e.g. tout/tu, fais/fée)
• letter-sound correspondence (e.g. ai /e/, eau /o/)
• syllabification (e.g. con/tente/ment)
• liaison (e.g. trois animaux, des enfants)
• sense groups in reading (e.g. J'ai mal/pas à la tête/mais au dos/; Comment vas-tu, Carol?// Comment vas-tu demain?)
• identification of sounds to determine similarity (e.g. maison/saison, dents/don, fond/fonde)

You should be able to:

• discriminate between French sounds
• deduce meanings out of sound combinations
• use the above to enhance effective communication
• assess sound groupings as affected by syllabification, liaison, e-caduc, pause, intonation, etc.

8. Culture and civilization of Francophone Africa and France (SS 1-3)

• characteristics (aspects, similarities and differences) of the educational system
• socio-economic life
• political organization
• cultural life of Francophone Africa and France, with reference (where possible) to home country, i.e. Nigeria

You should be able to:

• identify the specific features of the culture of Francophone Africa and France: greetings, dressing, food, leisure, marriage, festival, art, profession etc.
• compare these features with those of home country (where possible)
• apply reasoning skill