-er verbs - replace -er with é
-ir verbs - replace -ir with i
-re verbs - replace -re with u
irregular verbs - must be memorized
Past Participle Agreement
Audio: French native speaker
The past participle must agree with the direct object of a clause in gender and plurality if the direct object goes before the verb.
the direct object is masculine singular - no change
J'ai fini le jeu. - I have finished the game.
Je l'ai fini. - I have finished it.
the direct object is feminine singular - add an e to the past participle J'ai fini la tâche. - I have finished the task.
Je l'ai finie. - I have finished it.
the direct object is masculine plural - add an s to the past participle.
J'ai fini les jeux. - I have finished the games.
Je les ai finis. - I have finished them.
the direct object is feminine plural - add an es to the past participle.
J'ai fini les tâches. - I have finished the tasks.
Je les ai finies. - I have finished them.
Avoir ou Être?
In most circumstances, the auxillary verb is avoir.
However, under certain situations, the auxillary verb is être.
This occurs when:
The verb is one of 16 special verbs that take être.
Note that when a direct object is used with these verbs, the auxillary verb becomes avoir.
The verb is reflexive.
That is, the subject of the verb is also its object.
List of Tenses
There are seven perfect tenses in French. These are:
1. Le passé composé (The Present Perfect)
2. Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The Pluperfect of the Indicative) 3. Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The Pluperfect Subjunctive)
4. Le passé antérieur (The Past Anterior)
5. Le futur antérieur (The Future Anterior)
6. Le conditionnel passé (The Past Conditional)
7. Le passé du subjonctif (The Past Subjunctive)
G: Simple Future of Regular Verbs
There are three versions of the future tense in French, the futur simple the futur composé, and the futur antérieur(future perfect). The futur composé is formed by inserting the present form of aller before the infinitive, e.g. elle va réussir (she will pass, or she is going to pass) is the futur composé of elle réussit To conjugate a verb in the futur simple, one takes the infinitive and appends the right form of avoir except for nous and vous which takes -ons or -ez, as according to the table: Audio: French native speaker
Subject
Add Ending Conjugated Verb
Je
-ai
réussirai
Tu
-as
réussiras
Il / Elle / On -a
réussira
Nous
-ons
réussirons
Vous
-ez
réussirez
Ils / Elles
-ont
réussiront
Les vacances
Audio: French native speaker
Cet été, nous partirons en vacances au bord de la mer. Nous allons passer une semaine à Nice sur la côte d'Azur. Nous partirons en voiture et il y aura certainement beaucoup de bouchons sur l'autoroute. Nous nous baignerons le matin et je ferai des châteaux de sable avec mon fils. A midi nous mangerons puis nous ferons une bonne sieste car il fera certainement très chaud. L'après-midi, nous irons visiter des expositions de peintures ou alors nous irons dans des parc d'attractions. Vivement les vacances !
Lesson 3.02 - Work
