Explanatory Notes

Question 1

What are les verbes d’état?

Answer 1

• “Stative verbs”

Instead of describing an action, they show that a subject has a characteristic.

(They express a state or manner of being, a change of state, or a transformation.)

Question 2

List the 8 verbes d’état

Answer 2

avoir l’air (to seem)
demeurer (to reside)
devenir (to become)
être (to be)
paraître (to appear)
passer pour (to pretend)
rester (to stay)
sembler (to seem)

Question 3

What is a grammatical mood (or mode) in French?

Answer 3

They indicate the tone of the sentence and the speaker’s intention.

(They show whether the sentence is a request, a wish, a hypothesis, a doubt, a command etc.)

Question 4

What is a verb tense in French grammar?

Answer 4

It expresses the time in which an action takes place.

Question 5

What does the indicative mood express?

Answer 5

An action, event, or state that occurs in reality.

Question 6

What does the subjunctive mood express?

Answer 6

A possibility, a hypothesis, a feeling, a thought, a wish, a doubt, uncertainty or advice.

(Emphasises the subjectivity of a sentence).

Question 7

What does the conditional mood express?

Answer 7

Possible outcomes in relation to a condition.

Question 8

What does the imperative mood express?

Answer 8

Orders and advice to one or more people.

Question 9

Name the three impersonal moods.

Answer 9

L’infinitif, le gerondif, and le participe

Question 10

What do the three impersonal moods have in common?

Answer 10

They’re not conjugated in any tense.

They do not provide information about when the action takes place or who performs it.

Question 11

What are compound verb tenses?

Answer 11

Verb tenses that are made up of an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) plus the main verb.

Question 12

In compound tenses, is it the auxiliary verb or the main verb that is conjugated according to time and person?

Answer 12

The auxiliary.

Question 13

In compound tenses, is it the auxiliary verb or the main verb that is negated?

Answer 13

The auxiliary.

Question 14

What form does the main verb take in compound tenses?

Answer 14

The past participle.

Question 15

For which verbs is être the auxiliary in compound tenses?

Answer 15

• All reflexive verbs.
• DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs when they are used without a direct object.
  (devenir, rester, apparaître, (re)monter, revenir, sortir, venir, aller, naître, descendre, (r)entrer, rester**, tomber, retourner, arriver, mourir, partir)

Question 16

State main verb endings of the participe passé for the following regular verb groups in past compound tenses:
* -er
* -ir
* -re

Answer 16

• -er ends in é
• -ir ends in i
• -re ends in u

Question 17

In negative sentences, where does the main verb of a compound tense come?

Answer 17

After the second part of the negation (pas).

Question 18

In negative sentences, where does the pronoun of a reflexive verb come?

Answer 18

After the first part of the negation (ne) and before the auxiliary verb (avoir/être).

Question 19

Is there a pattern for constructing le participe passé for irregular verbs?

Answer 19

No. You have to learn each one individually.

Question 20

When does the main verb in a compound tense have to agree in gender and number with the subject?

Answer 20

When the verb takes être as its auxiliary.

Question 21

Under what conditions does the main verb in a compound tense need to agree in gender and number with a direct object?

Answer 21

I. the main verb must have avoir as its auxiliary.
II. The direct object must come before the verb in one of these cases:

a) a personal pronoun
b) the relative pronoun que
c) a noun placed before the verb (usually in questions and exclamations)