Présentée par
Megan Brown
 First,
a review of the conjugations:
 Passé composé: the name gives a clue about
formation – passé for “past” and “composé”
for “compound.”
 The passé composé is a compound tense:

A conjugated form of EITHER avoir OR être
(called an auxiliary verb) + past participle of the
verb you want to use
 Example:
Tu as mangé./ Je suis arrivé.
 How
to form auxiliary verbs (avoir):
 Use the present tense of avoir:
 I: J’ai
 You (singular/informal): Tu as
 He/she/one: Il a/Elle a/On a
 We: Nous avons
 You (formal/plural): Vous avez
 They: Ils ont/Elles ont
 Use
the present tense conjugations of être:
 Je suis, tu es, il est, elle est, on est, nous
sommes, vous êtes, ils sont, elles sont
 Only a handful of verbs need être as the
auxiliary verb.
 Here is a link to a site containing a list of
them. I recommend reading all four pages:
 http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/etr
everbs.htm
 Regular
verb formation follows these
patterns:
 -ER: Remove the ending and add –é (Aller
Allé)
 -IR: Remove the ending and add –i (Réussir
Réussi)
 -RE: Remove the ending and add –u
(RépondreRépondu)
 Most
irregular verbs
have irregular past
participles. Here are
some common
irregular verb
examples:
 venir > venu
vivre > vécu
voir > vu
vouloir > voulu
 pouvoir > pu
prendre > pris
 dire > dit
 avoir > eu
 Expanded list:
http://french.about.
com/od/grammar/a/
pastparticiple_2.htm
 Practice
conjugating verbs in the passé
composé:
 Travailler
 Aller
 Voir
 Special challenge (Translate): “Saturday he
saw his mother, talked to the doctor, and
found a cat.”
 Now
that you can conjugate the passé
composé, you need to know how to use it:
 I. An action completed in the past
 II. An action repeated a number of times in
the past
 III. A series of actions completed in the past
 The passé composé has three possible English
equivalents. For example, j'ai dansé can
mean:



I danced (simple past)
I have danced (present perfect)
I did dance (past emphatic)
 The
imperfect tense is a past tense. You use
it for ongoing or repeated past actions, if the
action was repeated an unspecific number of
times. You also use it for descriptions, states
of being, wishes, and suggestions.
 People usually translate it into English as
“was ____-ing,” “was,” or sometimes in the
past tense.
 Examples: The weather was nice yesterday.
When I was young, I went to elementary
school.
 Conjugating
the imperfect tense is easy. Find
the present tense “nous” form and drop the
–ons ending. Then tack on these endings:
Je:
-ais
Nous:
-ions
Tu:
-ais
Vous:
-iez
Il/elle/on:
-ait
Ils/elles:
-aient
 Manger:

Je mangeais, tu mangeais, il mangeait, nous
mangions, vous mangiez, ils mangeaient
 Parler:

(Nous parlons – ons = parl-)
Je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait, nous parlions,
vous parliez, ils parlaient
 Étudier:

(Nous mangeons – ons = mange-)
(Nous étudions – ons = étudi-)
J’étudiais, tu étudiais, il étudiait, nous
étudiions, vous étudiiez, ils étudiaient
 Être
is the only irregular verb in the
imperfect tense, because the 3rd person
present tense conjugation, nous sommes, has
no –ons ending to drop.
 Its stem is ét J’étais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous
étiez, ils étaient
 - Some other verbs will undergo spelling
changes in the imperfect (like manger), but
they are still regular verbs.
 Quand
j'étais petit, avant ton départ.
nous allions à la
He was hoping to
plage chaque
see you before you
semaine.
left.
When I was young,  Il était à la banque
we used to go to the quand il l'a trouvé.
beach every week.
He was at the bank
 Il était midi et il
when he found it.
faisait beau.
 Ah ! Si j'étais riche !
It was noon and the
Oh, if only I were
weather was nice.
rich!
 Il espérait te voir
Passé composé
L’imparfait
I. An action completed in the past
I. Habitual actions or states of being
II. An action repeated a specific
number of times in the past
II. Physical and emotional
descriptions: time, weather, age,
feelings
III. A series of actions completed in
the past during a specific time
period
III. Actions or states of an
unspecified duration
IV. Background information in
conjunction with the passé composé
V. Wishes or suggestions
 Passé
composé focuses on specific past time
periods and completed actions. Think of it
as your accomplished business exec who has
everything together:
L’imparfait, on the other hand,
deals with vague past time periods,
descriptions, and habitual past
actions. It is your laid-back beach
bum type.
 http://www.french.about.com
A
test on passé composé vs. imparfait:
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa
060799t.htm
 Test your ability to conjugate verbs in the
imperfect tense:
http://french.about.com/library/weekly/aa
010200t.htm