Past tenses intro Flashcards
What are the main past tenses in french language ?
Le passé composé et l’imparfait
True or false
Both imparfait and passé composé are compound tenses
False
Only the passé composé is a compound tense.
Imparfait is a simple tense.
What is the difference between a simple tense and a compound tense ?
A simple tense is formed by one word, ex: Je discute. “discute’’ is one word.
A compound tense is formed by two words; ex: J’ai discuté. “ai” and “discuté” are the two words forming the compound tense of the verb. The first word is always an auxiliary verb and the second one is the past participale of the verb conjugated.
There are how many auxiliairy verbs in French language?
Il y a combien d’auxiliaires en français ?
There are two auxiliary verbs , “Être” and “avoir”
Être = to be Avoir = to have
What is an auxiliary verb ?
It is a verb that helps to form a compound tense like the passé composé
Where does an auxiliary verb go in passé composé?
Où est placé l’auxilliaire dans le passé composé ?
An auxiliary verb is always the first word of the verb conjugated in passé composé.
Ex: J’ai assisté.
In this sentence “je” is the subject , “ai” is the auxiliairy verb placed first and “assisté” is the past participale of the verb “assister”
What is a past participle ?
C’est quoi un participe passé ?
It is a form of the verb typically ending with “é”, “i” or “u” used with an auxiliary verb to form a compound tense like the passé composé.
In what tense the auxiliairy verbs “avoir” and “être” need to be conjugated in order to form the passé composé of a given verb?
“Avoir” and “être” must be conjugated in the présent de l’indicatif in order to form the passé composé
How is “être” conjugated in présent tense ?
je suis, tu es, il est, elle est, on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont, elles sont.
How is “avoir” conjugated in présent tense ?
J’ai, tu as, il a, elle a, on a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont, elle ont
How to form past participle of the verbs ending with “er” in the infinitive?
By replacing the “er” by “é”
Ex: Parler ( infinitive) / parlé ( participe passé)
Aller ( infinitive) / allé ( participe passé)
How to form the past participle of the second group verbs like “finir” ?
Simply by dropping the final “r”,
ex: Établir ( infinitive) / établi ( participe passé)
How would you say “ I finished my work”
j’ai fini mon travail
How would you say “ I talked to Tony this morning”
J’ai parlé à Tony ce matin
Translate into French :
The server crashed
Le serveur a planté
