French grammer

Passe Compose

  • uses auxiliary/helping verb and past participle

  • auxiliary verbs: avoir or etre - use etre for verbs in Dr.Mrs.Vandertrampp

  • past participle: remove ending of verb and add special ending

    • er - e ir - i re - u

  • when using etre, the past participle has to agree with subject pronoun

    • if subject pronoun is feminine, past participle ends with extra -e

    • if subject pronoun is plural, past participle ends with -s

    • if subject pronoun is plural & feminine - past participle ends with -es

  • Reflexive Verbs: when using reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous) is attached to conjugated form of etre

    • subject pronoun + reflexive pronoun + etre(conjugated) + past participle + agreement (if needed)

  • Negative (avoir): subject pronoun + n’ + avoir(conjugated) + pas + past participle

  • Negative (etre) - subject pronoun + n’/e + etre (conjugated) + pas + past participle + agreement (if needed)

  • Negative (reflexive verb) - subject pronoun + n’ + reflexive pronoun + etre (conjugated) + pas + past participle + agreement (if needed)

    • when using reflexive verb, the reflexive pronoun is attached to etre, so the negative goes around it

Irregular Verbs for passe compose


Imparfait

  • is used to describe actions in the past

  • to express habitual or repeated actions in the past that have no indication of a beginning or end

  • attest to the existence of a fact or generalization about a moment in the past

  • to express the difference between ‘then’ and ‘now’

  • in a hypothetical context to suggest or propose


  • take the ‘nous form’ of the verb

  • remove the ending and add special endings depending on the subject pronoun

  • Je - ais Tu - ais Il/Elle/On - ait

    Nous - ions Vous - iez Ils/Elles - aient

  • Special case: for etre, do not use sommes, but use ‘ét’


DrMrs. Vandertrampp

Devenir - devenu - to become

Revenir - revenu- to come back

Monter - monté - to climb

Rester - resté - to stay

Sortir - sorti - to exit/to go out with (go out with friends)

Venir - venu - to come

Aller - allé - to go

Naitre - né - to be born

Descendre - descendu - to go down

Entrer - entré - to enter

Rentrer - rentré - to go home

Tomber - tombé - to fall

Retourner - retourné - to return/ to turn over

Arriver - arrivé - to arrive

Mourir - mort - to die

Passer - passé - to pass/ to come

Partir - parti - to leave

Difference between Passe Compose and Imparfait

Passe Compose

  • answers question “What happened'“

  • expresses a completed action that happened in the past

  • expresses a shift/temporality in feeling

  • started in the past but still continues today

  • interrupts an action

  • actions that happened one after the other

  • has, have, or be

Imparfait

  • answers question “What was something like”

  • expresses a habitual/repeated action that occurred in the past

  • expresses an action that has no beginning or end, and the action happened an undetermined number of times

  • indicates a consistent state of being or feeling

  • indicates an action that was entirely in the past

  • expresses simultaneously done actions (while)

  • was, were, or used to

  • Age, Description, Location, Time, Weather (All Deer Like The Woods)