French Notes

This tense is the equivalent to had verbed in English.  It’s a nice verb tense because it is a combination of previously learned tenses – there is nothing new in this tense, just a different combination of two tenses that you already know.  The plus-que-parfait is a composed tense, which means that it is composed of an auxiliary verb and a past participle.

To form the plus-que-parfait

1.  Put the auxiliary verb (être or avoir) in imparfait to match the subject

2.  Add in the past participle. Treat the past participle just like you would if it were in passé composé. (lots of examples below)

Regular Verb

Dire

Vandertrampp Verbs (conjugated with être as the auxiliary verb in passé composé)

Arriver

Reflexive Verbs

Se Réveiller

The passé simple is a tense that is only used in writing. It takes the place of the passé composé in novels, newspapers, and other relatively formal forms of writing.
My goal is that you recognize it for what it is as you come across it in your readings. Most of the verbs are easily recognizable in their passé simple forms, but there are a few irregular ones that you won’t recognize.

Rules and charts

For verbs ending in ER (both irregular and regular)
Drop the ER and add the passé simple endings

Parler
Je parlai. Nous parlâmes
Tu parlas. Vous parlâtes
Il parla. Ils parlèrent

Aller (also ends in ER, but irregular in present tense)
J’allai. Nous allâmes
Tu allas. Vous allâtes
Il alla. Ils allèrent

For verbs ending in IR, most RE, voir, and asseoir
Drop the IR and add the passé simple endings

Je finis. Nous finîmes
Tu finis. Vous finîtes
Il finit. Ils finirent

Je descendis. Nous descendîmes
Tu descendis. Vous descendîtes
Il descendit. Ils descendirent

(faire)
Je fis. Nous fîmes
Tu fis. Vous fîtes
Il fit. Ils firent

Venir verbs are irregular

Je vins. Nous vînmes
Tu vins. Vous vîntes
Il vint. Ils vinrent

Now for the list of the way irregular verbs – these ones all have the same endings, but can be hard to figure out which verbs they are because their passé simple forms in no way resemble any other form of the verb.

The endings for these verbs are

Je – us. Nous – ûmes
Tu – us. Vous – ûtes
Il – ut. Ils – urent

And here are the stems
être – f
avoir – e
boire – b
devoir – d
taire – t
lire – l
vivre – véc
plaire – pl
croire – cr

Example
être
Je fus. Nous fûmes
Tu fus. Vous fûtes
Il fut. Ils furent

avoir
J’eus. Nous eûmes
Tu eus. Vous eûtes
Il eut. Ils eurent

lire
Je lus. Nous lûmes
Tu lus. Vous lûtes
Il lut. Ils lurent

In English when we’re talking about an action in the future, we add the modal verb “will” (ex. On Tuesday we will go swimming.)  In French, they put the verb in the future tense. 

Clues or prompts about putting the verb in the future tense can be
*after the time expressions, quand, lorsque, dès que, and aussitôt que
*the future can also be used to emphasize a command, “you WILL do this”
*in an “if then” phrase, the “if” phrase is in present, and the “then” phrase will be in future
Si Fred réussit à l’examen, son père sera fier de lui.

The future tense is super easy.  All you have to do is remember the future stem of the verb, and add the future endings.

1.  to form the future stem of regular verbs

a. for ER verbs, use the infinitive

b.  for IR verbs, use the infinitive

c.  for RE verbs, drop the E

d.  for irregular verbs, memorize them

2.  the endings

je – ai       nous – ons

tu – as       vous – ez

   il – a           ils – ont

We will finish it tomorrow.  On le finira à demain.
I will go to bed early tonight. Je me coucherai de bonne heure ce soir.
They’ll wait for us. Ils nous attendront.

3.  Irregular infinitives and their future stems

* the asterisked verbs show the pattern / rule for all the verbs in that particular verb family.

4. Verbs such as lire, dire, écrire, boire, croire, conduire verbs, éteindre verbs, mettre verbs, prendre verbs, and suivre verbs, treat them like regular RE verbs in the future tense.

5. Some impersonal phrases in future tense;
il faut – it is necessary becomes il faudra – it will be necessary
il vaut – it is worth becomes il vaudra – it will be worth
il pleut – it’s raining becomes il pleuvra – it will rain

We’ll start out with the uses of the imparfait. The imparfait is used to express habitual, repeated actions or to describe an emotional or physical state in the past. It can also be used to describe a situation interrupted by a precise action. Usually the time of the imparfait action or condition is vague or implied.

Here are some cues that would imply that the tense needed is l’imparfait.

a. certain word clues –
de temps en temps – from time to time
fréquemment – frequently
souvent – often
toujours – always
tous les jours – every day
tous les mois – every month
toutes les semaines – every week
le matin, le soir, la nuit – in the morning, in the evening, at night (implies every morning, evening, night)
le lundi, le mardi … le dimanche – on Mondays, on Tuesdays … on Sundays (again implies every Monday, etc.)

b. states of being can be described in l’imparfait
location – Jean habitait Paris.
age – Elle avait 6 ans.
appearance – Sophie était belle.
physical condition – Nous étions fatigués.
emotional state of being – Il était triste.
attitudes – Tu avais envie de dormir.
desires – Il voulait rentrer chez lui.
time – il était dix heures du soir.
weather – il pleuvait

c. verbs that describe mental or emotional states of being in the past often use l’imparfait
aimer
avoir envie de
vouloir
croire
penser
désirer
préférer
savoir
pouvoir

Now for the conjugation of the l’imparfait. These steps apply for all verbs in the imparfait except être. The chart for être will be at the bottom of the page.
1. take the nous form of the verb
2. drop the ‘ons’
3. add the imparfait endings

;

* remember with ger verbs and cer verbs that you have to keep the ‘ge’ and the ‘ç’ in the nous form

nous mangeons, nous nageons – je mangeais, je nageais

nous commençons – je commençais

* last thing – for a few irregular impersonal verbs

il faut (it is necessary) changes to il fallait (it was necessary)

il pleut (it’s raining) changes to il pleuvait (it was raining)

il vaut (it’s worth) changes to il vallait (it was worth)