Standard Deviants School French
Program 6: Pronouns & Past Tense
QuikNotes
The past tense
The two parts of the passé composé are avoir and the past participle. Avoir is called a helping
verb because it helps the past participle become the past tense.
To form the past participle of -er verbs, replace er with é.
acheter
J’ai acheté
Tu as acheté
Il, elle, on a acheté
nous avons acheté
vous avez acheté
ils, elles ont acheté
To form the past participle of -re verbs, replace re with u.
attendre
J’ai attendu
nous avons attendu
Tu as attendu
vous avez attendu
Il, elle, on a attendu ils, elles ont attendu
To form the past participle of -ir verbs, replace ir with i.
finir
J’ai fini
Tu as fini
Il, elle, on a fini
nous avons fini
vous avez fini
ils, elles ont fini
The past participle of avoir is eu, and the past participle of faire is fait.
When you make a past-tense sentence negative, the ne … pas (or other negative expression)
goes around avoir.
Je n’ai pas mangé. Je n’ai rien acheté.
Demonstrative adjectives
These are words that let people know exactly which person, place, or thing you’re discussing.
ce
cet
cette
ces
with masculine singular nouns that begin with a consonant
with masculine singular nouns that begin with a vowel
with feminine singular nouns
with any plural noun
Reflexives
Reflexive verbs talk about something the subjects of the sentence are doing with, or to,
themselves.
se laver
je me lave
tu te laves
il, elle, on se lave
nous nous lavons
vous vous lavez
ils, elles se lavent
Direct and indirect object pronouns
The direct object is the object that the verb is directly operating on. The indirect object is
whoever received the bounty of the verb.
direct object pronouns
me
te
le, la
nous
vous
les
In the past tense, the direct object pronoun comes in front of avoir.
The indirect object pronouns are usually in a sentence that also has a direct object. The only
thing necessary for an indirect object is a prepositional phrase that starts with à.
Donner un cadeau à quelqu’un: to give a gift to someone.
indirect object pronouns
me
te
lui
nous
vous
leur
Indirect object pronouns are used when the original noun is a person or animal.
Je donne un cadeau à Marie > je lui donne un cadeau.
If you have two object pronouns in the same sentence, they follow this order:
me
te
nous
vous
te
la
les
lui
leur
y
en
Je donne un cadeau à Marie > Je le lui donne.
When an à phrase is a place or a thing, use y.
The pronoun en can mean some, any, of them, of it, about them, about it, … You can use it to
take the place of any phrase that starts with un, une, or de.
Use en whenever you’re replacing a phrase made up of a form of de plus a noun, or an
indefinite article plus a noun.
A note about culture: in France, whenever you’re invited to someone’s house for dinner, never
bring wine!
Standard Deviants School French
Program 6: Pronouns & Past Tense
QuikCheck
Fill in the blanks.
1. The two parts of the passé composé are
and the
.
2. When you make a past-tense sentence negative, ne … pas goes around
3.
.
adjectives are words that let people know exactly which person,
place, or thing you’re discussing. The forms are
4. The
,
,
, and
.
object is the object that the verb is directly operating on.
5. The only thing necessary for an indirect object is a prepositional phrase that starts with à.
6. The pronoun
can mean
,
,
,
,
,
…, and it replaces any phrase that starts with un, une, or de.
Write the past participle of these verbs.
7. acheter
8. attendre
10. avoir
11. faire
9. finir
.
.
Tu as mangé? Answer this question in the negative, using ne … pas.
12. Non,
.
Rewrite these sentences replacing the underlined words with direct or indirect object
pronouns.
13. J’ai acheté ce livre.
.
14. Je donne le cadeau à Marie.
.
15. Tu as rendu le livre à Pierre.
.
16. Nous regardons la télé.
.
Standard Deviants School French
Program 6: Pronouns & Past Tense
QuikCheck Answer Key
Fill in the blanks.
1. The two parts of the passé composé are avoir and the past participle.
2. When you make a past-tense sentence negative, ne … pas goes around avoir.
3. Demonstrative adjectives are words that let people know exactly which person,
place, or thing you’re discussing. The forms are ce, cet, cette, and ces.
4. The direct object is the object that the verb is directly operating on.
5. The only thing necessary for an indirect object is a prepositional phrase that starts with à.
6. The pronoun en can mean some, any, of them, of it, about them, about it…, and it
replaces any phrase that starts with un, une, or de.
Write the past participle of these verbs.
7. acheter
10. avoir
acheté
eu
8. attendre
11. faire
attendu 9. finir
fini
fait
Tu as mangé? Answer this question in the negative, using ne … pas.
12. Non, je n’ai pas mangé.
Rewrite these sentences replacing the underlined words with direct or indirect object
pronouns.
13. J’ai acheté ce livre.
Je l’ai acheté.
14. Je donne le cadeau à Marie.
Je lui donne le cadeau.
15. Tu as rendu le livre à Pierre.
Tu le lui as rendu.
16. Nous regardons la télé.
Nous la regardons.
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