Module 4: Le Passe
Lesson 04.00 L’Histoire de Paris
Please spend time in the lesson reading about the history of Paris.
Lesson 04.01 Le Passé Composé
This lesson will teach you how to speak in the past tense (what someone did in the past).
In order to form the passé composé, you use the following "formula" :
Subject + form of avoir + past participle.
Let’s Review!!
Fill in the blanks with the present tense verb conjugations for avoir:
j’_______
nous _______
tu ________
vous _______
il/elle _______
ils/elles _______
The past participle is the last part of the formula. It’s very simple to form the past participle of regular verbs.
For –er verbs, remove the –er from the infinitive and add
Example:
travailler → travaillé
regarder → regardé
.
For –ir verbs, remove the –ir from the infinitive and add
Example:
finir → fini
choisir → choisi
.
For –re verbs, remove the –re from the infinitive and add
Example:
répondre → répondu
entendre → entendu
.
Remember…to form the passé composé, you use the following "formula" :
Subject + form of avoir + past participle.
Let’s look at some examples:
Il a regardé. → He watched.
Nous avons fini. → We finished.
J' ai répondu → I responded (answered).
Lesson 04.02 Les Adverbes
Adverbs are words that tell how or how
you do an activity.
Fill in the missing words :
French
English
well
mal
often
trop
beaucoup
sometimes
always
here
là
soon
quickly
yesterday
tomorrow
jamais
early
late
maintenant
already
rather
peu
maybe
d’abord
puis
then, so
thus
finally
Plus d’Adverbes
In addition to adverbs you simply must learn, there are many other adverbs you can form in French by adding
-ment to the end of the adjective.
Examples:
poli—poliment (politely)
vrai—vraiment (truly)
récent—récemment (recently)
Some rules to follow when adding –ment:
Add -ment to the feminine singular form of the adjective.
heureux (heureuse)—heureusement
Add - ment to the masculine singular form of adjectives that end in a vowel.
poli—poliment
Add -emment to the adjective that ends in -ent. Add -amment to the adjective that ends in -ant.
fréquent—fréquemment
méchant—méchamment
Helpful Hints:
Adverbs are generally placed
Paul chante mal.
conjugated verbs.
Adverbs are generally placed right after the verb, even before objects.
J'aime beaucoup le français!
This is even true with the passé composé - the adverb will generally come right after the form of avoir, before the
past participle.
Nous avons trop mangé.
Adverbs of time or place may be placed at the beginning of or at the end of the entire sentence. Sometimes you will
insert "de" after the adverb if the next word is a noun.
Nous avons peu de pain.
Ils ont assez de copains.
Les Vendanges
Read the passage about Les Vendanges carefully.
04.03 Le Passé Composé Irregulars
You’ve already learned about passé composé with regular verbs.
Now you’ll learn about passé composé with IRREGULAR verbs. These verbs will have irregular past participles.
You will need to memorize these.
Fill in the chart below with the missing word:
Infinitive
Past Participle
faire
ecrire
vu
pris
dire
être
lu
boire
avoir
mis
Helpful Hint:
When making a past tense sentence negative, the ne…pas goes around the form of avoir.
Remember that ne becomes n' when the auxiliary verb starts with a vowel.
Examples:
Affirmative
J'ai joué au volley.
Nous avons joué au volley.
Negative
Je n'ai pas joué au volley.
Nous n'avons pas joué au volley.
Lesson 04.04 La Pronunciation
Please spend time in the lesson practicing the adverbs that end in –ment.
04.05 Le Passé with Être
Most verbs use avoir to form the passé composé. But there is a group of 16 verbs which use
place of avoir.
in
You will need to memorize this list of verbs, but the acronym DR MRS VANDERTRAMP will help you remember
these verbs.
Fill in the blanks below with the 16 verbs that use être in place of avoir. Then write the past participle and English
translation:
Infinitive
Past Participle
English Translation
allé
to go
D
R
M
R
S
V
Aller
N
D
E
R
T
R
A
M
P
The passé composé with être is similar to the passé composé with avoir. However, when the passé composé is
formed with être, the past participle behaves like an
.
If you have a feminine subject, you must also have a feminine past participle (you add an E to the past participle).
Il est allé. (masculine)
Elle est allée. (feminine)
If the subject is plural, the past participle must also be plural (you add an S to the past participle).
Ils sont allés. (masculine plural)
Elles sont allées. (feminine plural)
Helpful Hint:
All of these forms of allé sound the same in spoken French, but it is important to remember these rules of
agreement when writing French.
Il est allé.
Elle est allée.
Ils sont allés.
Elles sont allées.
Module Review for DBA:

Here are the topics to review for your exam and DBA.
04.00

Paris
04.01

the passé composé
04.02



les adverbes
lesson vocabulary
the grape harvest
04.03

irregular past participles
04.04


the pronunciation of words ending in –ment
listening comprehension
04.05


le passé composé with être
listening comprehension