Langue
Perfect tense
Which tense to use:
● Use the perfect (passé composé) if you want to say:
1 I have played tennis.
2 I played tennis.
3 I did play tennis.
4 I have been playing tennis.
● Use the imperfect (imparfait) if you want to say:
1 I was playing tennis.
2 I used to play tennis when I was at school.
3 The courts were green.
● Use the pluperfect (plus-que-parfait) if you want to say:
1 I had played tennis.
Do I use the passé composé or imperfect?
Passé composé
Imperfect
done, finished action:
went to school, played tennis
action taking placing over a long time:
was going, was playing
description – the car was white
suddenly he “thought”
feelings, thoughts going on in someone’s mind
yesterday
used to
When you talk about something that has happened or is a one-off event in the past, you use the passé composé.
There are four ways of forming it (four types), depending on what verb you are using:
Type 1: avoir + the past participle of most verbs ending in: -er, -ir, -re
-er verbs
jouer → joué
J’ai joué au tennis.
-ir verbs
finir → fini
J’ai fini mes devoirs.
-re verbs
attendre → attendu
J’ai attendu le bus.
j’ai
joué
j’ai
fini
j’ai
attendu
tu as
joué
tu as
fini
tu as
attendu
il a
joué
il a
fini
il a
attendu
elle a
joué
elle a
fini
elle a
attendu
on a
joué
nous avons
fini
nous avons
attendu
nous avons
joué
vous avez
fini
vous avez
attendu
vous avez
joué
ils ont
fini
ils ont
attendu
ils ont
joué
elles ont
fini
elles ont
attendu
elles ont
joué
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Type 2: avoir and verbs with an irregular form of the past participle
These are formed in exactly the same way as those in Type 1, but the past participles (e.g. joué, fait, attendu) do not follow a
regular pattern.
J’ai fait le ménage.
I did the housework.
Il a bu du coca.
He drank some coke.
Nous avons vu le film.
We saw the film.
Some of the more useful irregular past participles are shown here:
Infinitive
Past participle
Meaning
acquérir
acquis
acquired, got
avoir
eu
had
boir
bu
drunk
conduire
conduit
driven
connaître
connu
known (a person, place)
courir
couru
ran
craindre
craint
feared
croire
cru
believed
croître
cru
increased
devoir
dû
had to
dire
dit
said
écrire
écrit
written
être
été
been
faire
fait
done
fuir
fui
fled
lire
lu
read
mettre
mis
put
ouvrir
ouvert
opened
pleuvoir
plu
rained
pouvoir
pu
been able to
prendre
pris
taken
recevoir
reçu
received, got
résoudre
résolu
resolved
rire
ri
laughed
savoir
su
known
suivre
suivi
followed
tenir
tenu
held
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EDEXCEL FRENCH FOR A LEVEL
vivre
vecu
lived
voir
vu
seen
vouloir
voulu
wanted
Type 3: verbs that use être instead of avoir
You will be familiar with these from GCSE.
Examples:
Je suis arrivé de bonne heure.
Elle est venue à cinq heures.
These verbs are mostly used to express changes of state, movement, life and death.
There are thirteen of them (see below).
1
naître
né
born
2
mourir
mort
died
3
arriver
arrivé
arrived
4
partir
parti
left
5
venir
venu
come
6
aller
allé
gone
7
monter
monté
gone up
8
descendre
descendu
gone down
9
entrer
entré
entered
10
sortir
sorti
gone out
11
tomber
tombé
fallen
12
rester
resté
stayed
13
retourner
retourné
returned
There are a variety of ways of remembering them. Here they are grouped in roughly opposing pairs. Some people remember
them by a mnemonic such as:
MRS VAN DER TRAMP: a particularly attractive lady
DRAPERS VAN MMT: a laundry van with MMT on the number plates.
Past participles that have être as their auxiliary or “helping” verb agree with the subject of the verb:
1 if the subject is feminine, an extra e is added to the past participle.
Elle est descendue à la cave.
She went down to the cellar.
2 if the subject is masculine, there is no change to the past participle.
Il est descendu à la cave.
He went down to the cellar.
3 if the subject is masculine and plural, an extra s is added to the past participle.
Ils sont descendus à la cave.
They (masc.) went down to the cellar.
4 if the subject is feminine and plural, an extra e and an s are added to the past participle.
Elles sont descendues à la cave.
They (fem.) went down to the cellar.
5 if the subject is a mixture of masculine and feminine subjects, the subject is treated as masculine.
Robert et ses sœurs sont descendus à la cave.
Robert and his sisters went down to the cellar.
The chart overleaf may help you to remember this.
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je
suis
resté(e)
tu
es
resté(e)
il
est
resté
elle
est
restée
on
est
resté
nous
sommes
resté(e)s
vous
êtes
resté(e)s
ils
sont
restés
elles
sont
restées
Advanced
These verbs, when used this way, do not have an object (they are said to be “intransitive”). A few of them can be used
“transitively” (with an object) and, in those cases, use avoir as the auxiliary verb.
The verbs you are likely to come across with this usage are:
● monter
J’ai monté les valises.
I took the suitcases up.
● descendre
J’ai descendu les valises.
I brought the suitcases down.
● sortir
Il a sorti la poubelle.
He took the dustbin out.
Type 4: Reflexive verbs
Reflexives are verbs that “reflect” back onto the doer by adding a “reflexive pronoun” that is actually an object.
In the phrase, “I wake up”, it is literally “I wake myself (direct object) up” – Je me reveille.
Reflexives such as “get up” – se lever, “get dressed” – s’habiller, “get washed” – se laver, etc, use être as the auxiliary verb.
A few of the more well-known verbs at AS are:
se souvenir de
to remember
se sentir
to feel
se rappeler
to remember
The past participle, like other être verbs, usually agrees with the direct object of the verb which is the reflexive pronoun, which
usually refers to the subject:
je
me
suis
levé
tu
t’
es
levé(e)
il
s’
est
levé
elle
s’
est
levée
on
s’
est
levé
nous
nous
sommes
levé(e)s
vous
vous
êtes
levé(e)s
ils
se
sont
levés
elles
se
sont
levées
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EDEXCEL FRENCH FOR A LEVEL
Advanced
Most reflexive verbs can be used transitively (i.e. with an object):
J’ai lavé le chien.
I washed the dog.
Il a reveillé les enfants.
He woke up the children.
In a few cases where a direct object follows a reflexive verb in the passé composé, the past participle no longer agrees with
the subject (reflexive pronoun). That sounds pretty complicated, but this example should help you:
Nous nous sommes lavés.
We washed.
but
Nous nous sommes lavé les mains.
We washed our hands.
There is no agreement as the direct object is not in front of the past participle – the direct object is les mains which follows
the past participle.
The translation is literally: “We washed our hands to ourselves”.
Advanced: Agreement of the past participle with avoir verbs
With avoir verbs, the past participle agrees with the preceding direct object.
● Type 1: Pronouns
I saw them (Claude et Nicolas). – Je les ai vus.
She liked us (Anne et Amélie). – Elle nous a aimées.
● Type 2: Introduced by que
This is slightly more complicated as in English we can miss out the “that” or “whom”, so you have to remember to put in a
que to link one part of the sentence to another and then make the agreement with the past participle.
The girl (that) I saw yesterday. – La fille que j’ ai vue hier.
You remember Georges and Sophie whom we met last week? – Tu te souviens de Georges et de Sophie que nous avons
rencontrés la semaine dernière?
Exercice de grammaire
A. Translate the following into English:
1
2
3
4
5
Je me suis levé à cinq heures.
La voiture dont je vous ai parlé hier.
Il a pu voir le match.
Nous sommes allés au lycée.
Georges et Ann sont allés en Italie.
B. Translate the following into French:
1
2
3
4
5
They said “Hello” to their friends.
My sister has been playing tennis.
We have used the bus a lot.
I saw your brother at the café.
The problems we found cannot be solved.
C. Translate and answer the following questions as fully and as accurately
as possible in French:
1
2
3
4
5
Where did you go?
What sort of holiday did you have? (3 details)
How did you do at your GCSEs?
When did your brother and sister arrive?
Did you remember the name of the hotel we stayed in last year?
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