The imperfect - L'imparfait

1. Use and meaning.

The imperfect tense is used for:

• Past action that was unfinished (was/were doing):

Il se promenait vers le café quand il a vu son copain.

• Habitual or repeated action in the past (used to do):

Elle prenait le train tous les jours pour aller au travail.

• Description in the past :

Les oiseaux chantaient ; elle était triste ; il avait les yeux bleus.

Certain words and phrases indicate that the imperfect tense may be needed. These include:

Chaque semaine	Régulièrement
D’habitude	Souvent
Le samedi	toujours

Note:

Sometimes in English, habitual action is expressed by “would”: everyday he would get up at six o’clock. In French the imperfect tense must be used.

2. Formation.

Remove –ons from the nous part of the present tense, and replace it with the following endings:

Singular	Ending
Je	-ais
Tu	-ais
Il / elle / on	-ait
Plural	Ending
Nous	-ions
Vous	-iez
Ils / elles	-aient

The only exception is the verb être (to be):

I used to be	J’étais
You used to be	Tu étais
He / she / we used to be	Il / elle / on était
We used to be	Nous étions
You used to be (plural)	Vous étiez
They used to be	Ils / elles étaient

Download and print the document here

Now, time to practice!

Chuck the sentences in the correct bin *
Conjugues les verbes **

Perfect tense

Click here to download and print the rule.

1. AVOIR verbs
Le pendu (use the hints)
studystack

2. ETRE VERBS
Arcade Games


Voici un recapitulatif avec les deux auxiliaires

Le futur - Les verbes irréguliers.

Unfortunately, there are exceptions to the future tense's rule : 
For irregular verbs in the future tense, learn the stem and then add the usual ending. 


Remember to always check the ones you are not sure of.

The most common irregular verbs are: aller, être, avoir, devoir, faire, pouvoir, voir, vouloir…

	aller	être	avoir	devoir	faire	pouvoir	voir	vouloir
Singular Je Tu Il / elle / on	irais iras ira	serai seras sera	aurai auras aura	devrai devras devra	ferai feras fera	pourrai pourras pourra	verrai verras verra	voudrais voudras voudra
Plural nous vous ils / elles	irons irez iront	serons serez seront	aurons aurez auront	devrons devrez devront	ferons ferez feront	pourrons pourrez pourront	verrons verrez verront	voudrons voudrez voudront

Allez, maintenant, on s'entraine!

Try all of these games, beginning with the Matching Pairs

Le futur - les verbes réguliers

 1. The immediate future = le future proche.

·         To talk about the immediate future, in English, we say I am going to (play). We use the present tense of the verb to go and the infinitive of the verb we want to put in the future tense (here play).

·         Keep in mind that aller is irregular in French: you can’t say je allais, you have to say je vais.

Singular Je Tu Il / elle/ on	vais vas va
Plural Nous Vous Ils / elles	allons allez vont

Examples:

(manger) Je vais manger.

(venir) Tu vas venir.

(rendre) Nous allons rendre.

2 . The « simple » future = le futur simple.

·         The « simple » future tense is used to describe a less definite, more remote future.

·         The future tense of regular verbs is formed by taking the infinitive of the verb and adding the endings from avoir: -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont.

·         For –re ending verbs, the final “e” is dropped before the future endings are added

	manger	dormir	vendre
Singular Je Tu Il / elle / on	mangerai mangeras mangera	dormirai dormiras dormira	vendrai vendras vendra
Plural Je Tu Il / elle / on	mangerons mangerez mangeront	dormirons dormirez dormiront	vendrons vendrez vendront

Clique here to download and print the document.

Maintenant: on travaille!

Complète les blancs ** 
Choisis la réponse correcte **

Le présent - Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs which either:

1.    reflect the action back onto the subject

(e.g. I wash myself: Je me lave), or

2.    have the sense of "each other"

(e.g. They love each other: Ils s'aiment)

Reflexive Verbs in the Present Tense

Reflexive verbs only differ from ordinary verbs in that they have an additional Reflexive Pronoun. These are as follows, given here with the verb se laver, to wash:

je me lave	nous nous lavons
tu te laves	vous vous lavez
il se lave	ils se lavent
elle se lave	elles se lavent
on se lave

Reflexive Verbs in the Infinitive

Another important difference is that when these verbs are used in the infinitive, although the verb itself is infinitive, the reflexive pronoun must still agree with its subject. e.g.

                  

·         Je dois me raser avant de sortir.

·         Nous voulons nous réveiller à 6h30 demain.

      Click here to download and print the document.

      Now, time to practise!

      Matching pairs *

      Quiz *

      Un test **

   

Le present - regular verbs

·         When you learn a new verb, always note it down using the infinitive. This will help you to manipulate your different tenses.

·         Remember that in French there is only one form of the present tense. In English, we can say « I write », « I am writing » or « I do write ». Never use être to say « I am working », etc. These three words in English equal two words in French : je travaille.

·         The present tense is used to describe what is happening now or what usually happens.

·         Here is a reminder of present tense endings :

	-er	-ir	-re
Singulier 1st 2nd 3rd	Je                   …e Tu                  …es Il/elle/on         …e	Je                    …is Tu                   …is Il/elle/on          …it	Je                    …s Tu                   …s Il/elle/on           _
Pluriel 1st 2nd 3rd	Nous             …ons Vous             …ez Ils/elles         …ent	Nous              …issons Vous              …issez Ils/elles           … issent	Nous               …ons Vous               …ez Ils/elles            ...ent

·         Remember these guidelines :

-          You will never see a  –t  on the end of a je or tu form ;

-          You will never see an –s on the end of an il/elle/on form ;

-          You will never hear the –s or the –ent endings.

·         Get into the habit of checking your endings. Ask yourself : « Which pronoun is this ? Is this I, you, he, she, etc. Which ending do I need ? ».

You can download this document here if you would like to print it.

Now, try these activities to revise how to use the present tense!

Complète les blancs *

Adapte les phrases **