When to use the passé composé:
When an action in the past is completed
Ex I studied → j’ai étudié
An action repeated a certain number of times in the past
Ex I ate five times yesterday → J’ai mangé cinq fois hier
A series of actions completed in the past
Ex When I arrived I saw the flowers → Quand je suis arrivé, j’ai vu les fleurs
Conjugating regular passé composé verbs
Subject + conjugated avoir + past participle
Ex:
J’ai Tu as Il a
Nous avons Vous avez Ils ont
2. To find past participle, start like the verb in the infinitive: parler
3. Take off the ending: parler → →→ parl
4. Add the correct ending for the passé composé: parlé
Verb endings for the passé composé:
er → é
ir → i
re → u
5. Add subject + conjugated avoir verb + conjugated passé composé verb: J’ai parlé
UNLESS it is part of DR + MRS VANDERTRAMP
Devenir to become
Retourner to return (somewhere)
Mourir to die
Rentrer to go back (returning home)
Sortir to go out
Venir to come
Arriver to arrive
Naître to be born
Descendre to get off (of a train)
Entrer to enter
Revenir to come back
Tomber to fall
Rester to stay
Aller to go
Monter to get on
Partir to leave
Conjugating DR MRS VANDERTRAMP passé composé verbs
1. Instead of using “avoir” use “être”
Ex.
Je suis Tu es Il est Nous sommes vous êtes Ils sont
2. Past participle is same
Passé Composé Irregular Stems:
Vivre → vécu
Dire → dit
Croire → cru
Voir → vu
Lire → lu
Écrire → écrit
Mettre → mis
Devoir → dû
Vouloir → voulu
Pouvoir → pu
Recevoir → reçu
Boire → bu
Être → été
Avoir → eu
Connaître and Savoir in the Passé composé
Connaître → connu
Meaning in passé composé: met / got to know
Savoir → su
Meaning in passé composé: found out / learned
Reflexive verbs in passé composé:
Reflexive verbs take être!! Make sure to use the correct reflexive pronoun
Je → me nous → nous
Tu→ te vous → vous
Il/elle → se ils/elles → se
When to make agreement in passé composé:
If it is in passe compose, a direct object and before the verb, make agreement!
Ex Here are the books he gave me → Voici les livres qu’il m’a donnés
Agreement with DR MRS VANDERTRAMP
The past participle has to agree with the subject
He went → Il est allé
She went → Elle est allée
They went → Ils sont allés
Agreement with Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs only make agreement if there is NO body part afterwards
She shaved her legs → Elle s’est rasé les jambes. NO AGREEMENT
She woke up late → Elle s’est réveillée tard. AGREEMENT
IMPERATIF
soie – non ! Show examples of impératif with pronouns and don’t forget to put
the s back if followed by y or en (Vas-y / Parles-en)
When to use the imparfait:
Habitual
Ex When I was young, we used to go to the beach every week → Quand j’étais petit, nous
allions à la plage
Physical, emotional descriptions: time, weather, age and feelings
Ex When I was 8, I was always hungry → Quand j’avais huit, j’avais toujours faim
Actions or states of an unspecified duration
Ex He was hoping to see you before you left → Il espérait te voir avant ton départ
Background information in conjugation with the passé composé
Ex I was at the museum and I was hungry → J’étais au musée et j’ai eu faim
Conditions in si clauses
Ex If I had money I would go with you → Si j’avais de l’argent, j’irais avec toi
How to conjugate the imparfait:
Conjugate the verb to its present “nous” form
Ex Nous choisissons
Take off the “ons” ending and add the correct imparfait ending
Ex Nous choisissons (present) → Nous choisissions (imparfait)
