PART 2: PAST TENSE VERBS
Lesson - Section 1: Composite Past Tense with avoir + ER verbs, and the Vocabulary of the bathroom
Congratulations! You have graduated from present tense verbs! Give yourself a pat on the back if you haven't done so already
or if you are legal age, a glass of Alizé on the rocks
Hi and welcome again to French Class! This lesson may look long, but trust me, it's mostly because I'm trying to explain things clearly. It's not actually that long
The Composite Past Tense (
Passé Composé) is one of the most important ways to express the past tense in French. As you may know, French has several past tenses, however this is among one of the most commonly used in modern French writing - thus very important to learn first. The French past tense is used exactly the same way as in English - to express something that happened. For example, I finished, I cooked, I played, etc. There is a major difference between the
Passé Composé and the English past tense - the number of words required to form the past tense. In English, you usually have two words to form this past tense (or it could be three, like I have purchased instead of I purchased) . However, in French, the
Passé Composé is formed
always with three words -
le sujet (the subject),
l'auxiliaire (the auxiliary verb), and
le participe passé (past participle). The
auxiliaire can be a conjugated form of
avoir or
être, but let's do
avoir first since it is a bit more frequently used. The Composite Past Tense with
Etre will come in a later lesson since its usage criteria are slightly different.
The way to conjugate a regular -ER verb in the
Passé Composé, taking the avoir as the auxiliary verb, in French is:
Remove the -ER ending and replace with -é. The word you formed (called a
participe passé) is used for all the pronouns (
Je through
Elles). It does not change. The part that changes is
avoir - that is conjugated the standard way for each pronoun. The order of words for a
Passé Composé with avoir is: pronoun, conjugated
avoir,
participe passé.
Let's see an example of the French
Passé Composé with avoir in use -
The following example uses the verb
jouer, or to play.
<TABLE CELLPADDING="2" BORDER="1"><TR><TD>
Nous
</TD><TD>
avons
</TD><TD>
joué
</TD><TD>
au foot.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
le sujet
</TD><TD>
l'auxiliaire
</TD><TD>
le participe passé
</TD><TD>
le reste de la phrase
</TD></TR></TABLE>
hear this sentence said
This sentence says "We played soccer". Notice how the
Passé Composé requires three words in French, whereas the Past Tense in English requires only two. The other more complicated past tenses that employ more than two words in English (like past perfect) have their counterparts in French - and are conjugated differently than the
Passé Composé. They will be introduced later
.
Now - a very important concept must be introduced - the concept of agreement. Remember how all French nouns have a gender designated? The
Passé Composé with
avoir must agree with the gender of the noun or whatever the past tense is referring to, by adding an -e, -s, or -es at the end of the
participe passé if what the past tense is referring to is
féminin,
masculin pluriel, or
féminin pluriel. The past tense with avoir must agree with the subject of the sentence, direct object of the sentence, or the noun that it is referring to in the sentence if the subject, direct object, or noun is
féminin,
pluriel, or
féminin pluriel. For
masculin singulier verbs, there is no agreement. You must apply this rule only under the following condition, for Composite Past Tense with
avoir:
If the direct object of the sentence (whatever the past tense is referring to) is before the verb, there is agreement. If the direct object is in another place, there is no agreement
Now I realize that was a very convoluted paragraph
This would be clearer with a few examples.
A Féminin Singulier agreement
<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2"><TR><TD>
Où est Pauline?
</TD><TD>
Je
</TD><TD>
ne l'ai pas
</TD><TD>
vue.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
Where is Pauline?
</TD><TD>
I
</TD><TD>
have not
</TD><TD>
see her.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Notice how the verb
voir (to see) was conjugated in the past tense (
vu), and has a letter
e at the end. This is to indicate the Pauline is a girl, and in this case the verb must agree with Pauline's gender - which makes the verb
féminin. The direct object of
voir (Pauline) is before the verb, therefore the verb must agree.
hear this sentence said
Another example:
A Féminin Pluriel agreement
<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2"><TR><TD>
Tu as acheté les fleurs?
</TD><TD>
Oui, je
</TD><TD>
les ai
</TD><TD>
achetées.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
You purchased the flowers?
</TD><TD>
Yes, I
</TD><TD>
have
</TD><TD>
purchased them.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
hear this sentence said
Notice how the verb
acheter (to buy) was conjugated in the past tense (
acheté), and has two letters
es at the end. This is to indicate the the noun fleurs is féminin pluriel, and in this case the verb must agree with the flower's gender and number - which makes the verb
féminin pluriel. The direct object of
acheter (fleurs) is before the verb, therefore the verb must agree.
finally, an example of the Pluriel agreement.
A Pluriel agreement
<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2"><TR><TD>
Vous m'avez donné vos cahiers?
</TD><TD>
Oui, je vous
</TD><TD>
les ai
</TD><TD>
donnés.
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
You gave me your notebooks?
</TD><TD>
Yes, I you
</TD><TD>
them to
</TD><TD>
gave.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
hear this sentence said
Which translates as "You gave me your notebooks? Yes, I gave them to you"
Just wanted to highlight the French word order.
HOWEVER
J'ai acheté les fleurs. No agreement in this sentence because
fleurs comes after J'ai acheté.
Notice how the verb
donner (to give) was conjugated in the past tense (
donné), and has a letter
s at the end. This is to indicate the the noun cahiers is pluriel, and in this case the verb must agree with the notebook's number - which makes the verb
pluriel. The direct object of
donner (cahiers) is before the verb, therefore the verb must agree.
In summary, if the verb takes
avoir as an auxiliary verb, and the direct object comes before the past tense verb, you must apply the agreement rule under the conditions mentioned above.
That's it for this topic! Let's move on to the vocabulary of the bathroom.
La salle de bain (the bathroom)
And that is it for today's lesson. Now for your questions! I know some of you may not like this, but past tense needs a lot of practice to write correctly. So, there is slightly more homework for this and a couple of the upcoming lessons. Sorry! It's for your benefit though
.
Please PM me the answers to the following questions. The auxiliary verb for all past tenses here is
avoir unless otherwise noted. A dictionary may be necessary for 1 or 2 questions.
1. Conjugate the verb avoir completely.
2. Please write out the vocabulary of the bathroom that you learned today.
3. Please tell me when to make agreement with a direct object, if my passé composé takes an auxiliary verb of avoir.
4. If you need to agree with a masculin pluriel direct object, what letter(s) do you add to the end of the participe passé?
5. If you need to agree with a féminin pluriel direct object, what letter(s) do you add to the end of the participe passé?
6. If you need to agree with a féminin singulier direct object, what letter(s) do you add to the end of the participe passé?
7. If you need to agree with a masculin singulier direct object, what letter(s) do you add to the end of the participe passé?
8. Conjugate completely the verb donner, in Passé Composé, remembering that avoir is the verb that is conjugated differently for each pronoun, but donner takes only 1 conjugation for all pronouns.
9. Conjugate completely the verb promener, in Passé Composé.
10. Which of the following is not a correct match:
A: lavabo = sink
B: tomette = tiles
C: égout = flavor
D: poisson = fish
11. Which of the following is not a correct match:
A: le dentifrice = toothpaste
B: brosse = brush
C: dents = teeth
D: serviette = toilet paper
12. Which of the following is not a correct match:
A: tasse = task
B: tomette = tile
C: salle = room
D: bain = bathtub
13. Which of the following is not a correct match:
A: soap = savon
B: towel = deuil
C: hairdryer = un sèche-cheveux
D: brush = une brosse
14. Please translate into French: They (either pronoun is fine) walked to the cinema, and they saw a movie (un film).
15. Please translate into French: You (plural) have finished your homework! You can play now (pouvoir jouer, conjugate the 1st verb).
16. Please translate into French: Where are the fruit? I didn't find them.
17. Please translate into French: We purchased a new bathtub for our brand new house (brand new = tout(e) nouveau/nouvelle, please decide whether or not to agree with the noun house
18. Please translate into French: You (singular informal) purchased some toothpaste, some shampoo, and three toothbrushes.
19. Please translate into French: The sink was (was = avoir été; conjugate avoir appropriately) blocked. I had to fix it (had to = devoir, conjugated in past tense). When writing, place le/la (please choose the correct one) before the verb fix.
20. Please translate into French: I bought the groceries (les provisions).