Tenses Flashcards
When is the imperfect past used?
General rule: it is used to describe past events without reference to start/finishing
a. ) in a narrative, it is used to describe a general background of pas events against which particular completed past events are acted out
- in written French this is simple or compound
- in spoken this is ALWAYS compound
‘il était tard. Ms Blanche arrêta sa voiture devant un cafe’
b.) it is used to describe an habitual action, where the English would use ‘would’ or ‘used to’
quand j’étais plus jeune, j’allais souvent au cinéma avec mes copines’
c.) it can be used to describe completed past events where the speaker or writer wants to create immediacy by presenting them as though they are still in the process of being completed.
‘je courais jusqu’a la voiture. j’attendais un instant’
When is the simple past used?
General rule: Almost entirely limited to written French
- used to describe a completed past action which is not seen by the writer as having any consequences continuing into the present
eg. ‘les Jeux Olympiques eurent lieu a Montreal en 1982’
When is the compound past used?
used to describe a completed past action. In contrast to the simple past, it may be used by a writer to describe a completed past action which continues to give rise to consequences continuing into the present.
e.g. ‘nous sommes arrives hier de Dijon’
When are the compound and simple pasts used together?
In written French, the simple and compound pasts may be used together
- Simple used to describe completed past action which does not give rise to consequences in the present
- compound used to describe completed past action which continue to affect the present tense
e. g. le 31 Juillet, quand un officier porta officiellement disparu le Lightning…. Antoine est entre dans la légende
How do you translate the English past progressive into French?
> does not have a past progressive, so this is normally translated into the imperfect past
- ‘quand je l’ai trouve, il dormait paisiblement sur la plage’
- ‘en train de’ can be used when the duration needs to be stressed
’ elle était en train de mettre la dernière touche a son dessin quand on a frappé a la porte’
when is the pluperfect used
whilst the simple/compound past refer to events completed in the past from the perspective of the writer, the pluperfect refers to events completed at some time BEFORE these past events
- la police laissa une balise pour indiquer ou l’accident était arrivé
When is the past anterior used?
> the past anterior is relatively rare and is limited to use in formal written French
a. ) used to describe an action which takes place IMMEDIATELY before another past action described in the simple past
- commonly with prepositions which mean ‘when’, ‘as soon as’ ‘after’ etc.
> lorsqu’elle fut sortie, elle enleva la nappe
(pluperfect requires no specification of the amount of time which has elapsed between 2 past events)
b.) can be used with adverbs denoting speed/urgency where the verb would otherwise be in the pluperfect
When is the compound future used
a.) used to describe future events from the perspective of their COMPLETION, not their FUTURITY
> j’aurai fini mes devoirs des lundi
b.) can be used as equivalent to the English ‘may have’ to express an event which may have taken place before another event
> elle aura peut-être fini ses devoirs avant de vous téléphoner
when is the compound conditional used?
a.) refers to events which would have taken place if certain conditions had been met (but weren’t)
> c’aurait été la chute du gouvernement s’il y avait eu des élections (compound conditional with pluperfect)
b.) it is used as the equivalent to compound conditional in reported speech
elle a dit <>
elle a dit qu’elle aurait fini ses devoirs
c.) can be used to state something as a possible/alleged fact but not as a certainty
le Président serait parti en vacances
When is the IMPERFECT tense used in relation to the PRESENT?
> used to express duration
- ‘elle jouait du piano, mais maintenant elle joue du violin’
- expresses that she used to, but that she no longer plays
When is the PERFECT used in relation to the PRESENT?
> Links the past action to the present or leaves the possibility open
- elle a souvent joué du piano, maintenant elle joue du violin
when is the SIMPLE used in relation to the PRESENT?
> in written French if you want to express that the action is definitely completed
- elle joua souvent du piano, maintenant elle joue du violin
expresses that action was sharply cut off
Which tense do you used to express an action further in the past than that expressed in the COMPOUND/SIMPLE?
> Compound/simple= PLUPERFECT
elle a voulu revendre le meuble des qu’elle l’avait acheté
when is the double compound past used?
> to mark the more distant past event as completed
> ils ont gardé le silence, mais ils ont applaudi quand j’ai eu fini
how do you mark a future event preceding another event in the future?
> compound future tense
quand nous serons passes par l’hotel je pourra enfin…
