A Level French Tense Revision (from an A* student). Covers present, perfect, imperfect, immediate future, future, pluperfect tenses and the conditional and subjunctive moods
A Level French Tense Revision
Present Tense:
Regular Verbs:
-ER -IR -RE
1. Take off the infinitive’s ending. Je _e Je _i Je _s
eg. manger
finir Tu _es Tu _is Tu _s
vendre Il/Elle/On _e Il/Elle/On _it Il/Elle/On _
2. Add the appropriate ending, (see right). Nous _ons Nous _issons Nous _ons
eg. je mange
il finit Vous _ez Vous _issez Vous _ez
elles vendent Ils/Elles _ent Ils/Elles _issent Ils/Elles _ent
Irregular Verbs:
These patterns need to be learnt. note: Accents sometimes change, eg. preferer works like espérer (below).
avoir être aller faire prendre
J’ai Je suis Je vais Je fais Je prends
Tu as Tu es Tu vas Tu fais Tu prends
Il/Elle/On a Il/Elle/On est Il/Elle/On va Il/Elle/On fait Il/Elle/On prend
Nous avons Nous sommes Nous allons Nous faisons Nous prenons
Vous avez Vous êtes Vous allez Vous faites Vous prenez
Ils/Elles ont Ils/Elles sont Ils/Elles vont Ils/Elles font Ils/Elles prennent
venir écrire dire voir espérer
Je viens J’écris Je dis Je vois J’espère
Tu viens Tu écris Tu dis Tu vois Tu espères
Il/Elle/On vient Il/Elle/On écrit Il/Elle/On dit Il/Elle/On voit Il/Elle/On espère
Nous venons Nous écrivons Nous disons Nous voyons Nous espérons
Vous venez Vous écrivez Vous dites Vous voyez Vous espérez
Ils/Elles viennent Ils/Elles écrivent Ils/Elles disent Ils/Elles voient Ils/Elles prennent
Modal Verbs:
These are used to qualify actions. When they are followed by another verb, the latter is in the infinitive.
(to know how to)
pouvoir vouloir devoir savoir
Je peux Je veux Je dois Je sais
Tu peux Tu veux Tu dois Tu sais
Il/Elle/On peut Il/Elle/On voit Il/Elle/On doit Il/Elle/On sait
Nous pouvons Nous voulons Nous devons Nous savons
Vous pouvez Vous voulez Vous devez Vous savez
Ils/Elles peuvent Ils/Elles veulent Ils/Elles doivent Ils/Elles savent
, Perfect Tense:
This is used to express completed actions in the past.
eg. Ils ont résolu le problem. They solved the problem.
To form it you need two parts:
• the present tense of either avoir or être - known as the auxiliary verb
• the past participle of the main verb - in English this is -ed
Verbs which take Avoir:
1. Select the part of avoir in the present tense (see previous section).
2. Add the chosen infinitive’s past participle, by first removing the infinitive’s ending and adding:
for -er verbs, add -é eg. j’ai parlé
for -ir verbs, add -i
for -re verbs, add -u
→ nous avons choisi
il a vendu
Verbs which take Étre:
You need to consider three things:
• the correct part of the present tense of être (see previously)
• the past participle of the main verb
• the correct agreement, ie. is the subject pronoun fem., masc. or plural?
Here are the limited number of verbs that take étre in the perfect tense, the 14 MR R VANS TRAMPED verbs:
verb past participle English
Monter monté to go up
Retourner retourné to return
Rester resté to stay
Venir venu to come
Arriver arrivé to arrive
Naître né to be born
Sortir
Tomber
sorti
tombé
to go out
to fall
→
Rentrer rentré to go back in
Aller allé to go
Mourir mort to die
Partir parti to leave
Entrer entré to enter
Descendre descendu to go down/to get off
When you form the perfect tense with être, the past participle needs to agree with the subject of the verb (the person doing the verb).
for fem. sing., add -e eg. je suis allée
for masc. plural, add -s
for fem. plural, add -es
→ nous sommes allé(e)s
elles sont allées
eg. the perfect tense of aller is:
je suis allé(e)
tu es allé(e)
il est allé
elle est allée
on est allé(e)(s)
nous sommes allé(e)s
vous êtes allé(e)(s)
ils sont allés
elles sont allées
Reflexive Verbs:
All reflexive verbs us étre in the perfect tense, so as normal verbs would, the past participle agrees with the subject (see above).
In the perfect tense, the reflexive pronoun always goes before the auxiliary verb, or part of étre being used:
• je me suis levée à huit heures - I got up at 8.00
• elle s’est bien amusée - she had fun
• ils se sont réveillés très tôt - they woke up really early
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