Tenses - Présent,
PRÉSENT
Futur Proche, Passé Composé
1 Conjugated Verb ( = the action )
• The Present Tense is a one-part tense. You simply have to conjugate the verb.
• Regular verbs always follow a pattern. If you learn the endings, you’ll know how to conjugate any regular verb.
-ER
-e
-es
-e
-IR
-ons
-ez
-ent
-is
-is
-it
-RE
-issons
-issez
-issent
-s
-s
---
-ons
-ez
-ent
• Irregular verbs are all different, and you have to memorize the T-chart for each one.
( Though some of the irregular verbs can be grouped together because they’re conjugated similarly or the same.)
• Look at the verb charts handout for the conjugations of the irregular verbs you’ve learned.
• In negative present tense sentences, the ne … pas goes around the verb.
• Translations --- Affirmative :
Questions :
Negative :
Tu étudies
You study
(Est-ce que) tu étudies?
Tu n’ étudies pas
FUTUR PROCHE
You do study
Do you study ?
You don’t study
You are studying
Are you studying?
You aren’t studying
Conjugated ALLER + INFINITIVE of action verb
• The “near future” is a two-verb tense. Just like all two-verb sentences, you have to conjugate the first verb
and leave the second one in its original infinitive form
• The first verb will always be the correct, conjugated form of ALLER. Since “aller” means “to go,” this creates
the sense of “going to (gonna) “ do something.
• In negative futur proche sentences, the ne… pas goes around the form of ALLER.
• Translations --- Affirmative :
Negative :
Tu
Tu
vas étudier
ne vas pas étudier
You’re going to study.
You’re not going to study.
Je vais étudier
Nous allons étudier
Tu
Vous
vas
étudier
Il / Elle / On va
étudier
allez étudier
Ils / Elles
vont
étudier
PASSÉ COMPOSÉ
Conjug’d HELPING VERB + PAST PARTICIPLE of action verb
• The past tense is a two-part tense. You have to conjugate the helping verb ( usually AVOIR ) and use the past
participle form of the action verb.
• Just as in present tense, regular verbs follow a pattern for forming their past participles. You just have to
replace the infinitive ending with the past participle ending.
-ER ---> -É
-IR ---> -I
-RE ---> -U
• Irregular verbs also have irregular past participles. You just have to memorize them !!! As you learn new
irregular verbs, be sure to learn their past participles at the same time you’re learning the present T-chart.
• See the Irregular Verb Charts handout for the past participles of all the irregular verbs you’ve learned.
• If the past tense sentence is negative, the ne … pas goes around the helping verb.
• Translations --- Affirmative :
Questions :
Negative :
J’
Tu
ai
as
Tu as étudié
You studied
(Est-ce que) tu as étudié?
Tu n’as pas étudié
étudié
étudié
Il / Elle / On
a
étudié
You did study
Did you study ?
You didn’t study
Nous
avons
étudié
Vous
avez
étudié
Ils / Elles
ont
You have studied
Have you studied ?
You haven’t studied
étudié
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Passé Composé of Van der Tramp Verbs and Reflexive Verbs
• If your action verb is either a Van der Tramp verb ( coming and going verbs ) or a reflexive verb, remember
that the helping verb needs to be ÊTRE, and that you have to make the past participle agree with the subject.
Je
suis sorti / sortie
Nous
sommes sortis / sorties
Tu
es
Vous
Vous
êtes
êtes
sorti / sortie
sortis / sorties
Ils
Elles
sont
sont
sortis
sorties
Il / On
Elle
sorti / sortie
est
est
sorti
sortie