French Grammar: Passé Composé, Irregular Verbs, Time Expressions, and Imparfait

Vocabulary practice cards covering French passé composé with avoir and être, Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp verbs, regular and irregular -ir conjugations, time prepositions (depuis, pendant, il y a), and the imparfait.

Passé composé with avoir

A French past tense used to describe a completed action in the past, formed using the Subject + avoir in the present tense + past participle verb (e.g., J'ai mangé).

Regular past participle endings

The standard endings added to verb stems in the past tense: -é for regular -er verbs, -i for regular -ir verbs, and -u for regular -re verbs.

Agreement rule for passé composé with avoir

Unlike être, the past participle does not change with gender, unless the direct object/participle comes before the verb in the sentence (e.g., La lettre que j'ai écrite).

Irregular past participles: avoir, boire, devoir, être, faire

The irregular past participles: avoir becomes eu, boire becomes bu, devoir becomes dû, être becomes été, and faire becomes fait.

Negative with avoir in passé composé

The negative structure formed by placing "ne… pas" around the auxiliary verb avoir (e.g., nous n'avons pas, vous n'avez pas, Je n'ai pas étudié hier).

Nous / Vous / Ils / Elles

French subject pronouns translated as: nous = we, vous = you, and ils/elles = they.

Passé composé with être

The past tense used when expressing moments of movements, movement of location, or a change of state, conjugated using the present tense of être + past participle.

Gender agreement with être

The rule where the past participle must agree with the subject: no ending added for masculine singular, add -e for feminine singular, add -s for masculine plural, and add -es for feminine plural.

Verbs conjugated with either être or avoir

A specific group of verbs—monter, descendre, entrer, sortir, passer, and retourner—that use être for intransitive movement, but take avoir when followed by a direct object.

Irregular past participles with être: naître, mourir, venir, devenir

The irregular past participles: naître becomes né, mourir becomes mort, venir becomes venu, and devenir becomes devenu.

Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp

A mnemonic acronym representing verbs conjugated with être: Descendre, Revenir, Monter, Retourner, Sortir, Venir, Arriver, Naître, Demeurer, Entrer, Rentrer, Tomber, Rester, Aller, Mourir, Partir.

Regular -ir verbs (present tense endings)

The present tense conjugation endings exemplified by finir: je -is, tu -is, il/elle/on -it, nous -issons, vous -issez, and ils/elles -issent.

Dormir / Partir pattern (irregular -ir verbs)

The conjugation pattern followed by verbs like dormir, partir, sentir, servir, and sortir: je -s, tu -s, il/elle -t, nous -ons, vous -ez, and ils/elles -ent.

Venir / Devenir / Obtenir / Revenir pattern

The irregular present tense conjugation pattern: je viens, tu viens, il/elle vient, nous venons, vous venez, ils/elles viennent (also applied to deviens, obtiens, reviens stems).

Depuis

A preposition used with a verb in the present tense to talk about an activity that began in the past and continues to the present time.

Depuis quand

A question phrase asking "how long" or "since when" an activity has been ongoing (e.g., Depuis quand est-ce que tu conduis? - Je conduis depuis 2018).

Depuis combien de temps

A question phrase asking for the duration of an activity that has not ended yet (e.g., Depuis combien de temps est-ce que vous prenez l'autobus?).

Pendant

A time preposition used with the passé composé to indicate the duration of a situation, event, or repeated action with a definite beginning and end, or to mean "during" in general.

Pendant combien de temps

A question phrase meaning "for how long" used to ask how long a completed action lasted (e.g., Pendant combien de temps es-tu resté en Suisse?).

Il y a (time expression)

An expression meaning "ago" used when referring to a finished event in the past (e.g., il y a un mois).

Imparfait endings

The regular French imperfect tense endings added to verb stems: je -ais, tu -ais, il/elle/on -ait, nous -ions, vous -iez, and ils/elles -aient.

Imparfait of être

The imperfect conjugations of être: J'étais, tu étais, il/elle était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils/elles étaient.