French Grammar in Context

The passé composéin the text 1 USAGE The passé composé= perfect and is used to refer to completed events in the past, but it usu ...

b Regular past participles are formed thus: -erverbs: replace -erwith -é, as in retourné(line 1), rentré(line 3) -irverbs: repl ...

1 -it dire > dit écrire > écrit faire > fait 2 -is asseoir > assis mettre > mis prendre > pris acquérir > a ...

Some of the ‘être’verbs listed above may be used transitively (with a direct object), e.g. sortir(to take/bring out); monter(to ...

EXERCISES 1 Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the passé composéof the verb indicated and make any necess ...

5 Choosing the appropriate verbs from the list below, fill in the gaps in the following passage with the correct form of the pas ...

3 The imperfect Jacques Prévert, Contes pour enfants pas sages LE DROMADAIRE MÉCONTENT Un jour, il y avaitun jeune dromadaire qu ...

The imperfect in the text 1 USAGE a The imperfect often describes an event in progress in the past. Neither the beginning nor th ...

Note 1Êtrehas an irregular stemin the imperfect but it has regular endings: j’étais nous étions tu étais vous étiez il/elle étai ...

2 FORMATION a A stem ending in gbecomes gebefore an a. e.g. Ils mangeaient des haricots For the definition of ‘stem’ see above, ...

c Cette semaine j’ai le temps d’aller au cinéma. (la semaine dernière, écrire une dissertation) d Maintenant la plupart des gens ...

The pluperfect in the text 1 USAGE a The pluperfect is used as in English to indicate a past action completed before another pas ...

For verbs conjugated with êtreor avoirsee Chapter 2. NoteThe pluperfect is formed in the same way in the passive voice, i.e. plu ...

EXERCISES 1 Complete the following sentences with the appropriate form of the pluperfect. a Nous __________ (sortir) par la port ...

5 The past historic and past anterior Claire Etcherelli, Élise ou la vraie vie Je cherchaiArezki. Il n’était pas encore arrivé. ...

s’appelaitLakhdarpassaprès de nous(lines 5–6), or Au comptoir, beaucoup d’hommes s’agglutinaient.Certains nousdévisagèrent(line ...

Examples in the text: pris(line 1), surprit(line 3), mit(line 4), fit(line 4), tendit(line 6), dis (line 14), descendîmes(line 1 ...

b The past historic of êtreand avoir. je fus j’eus tu fus tu eus il/elle fut il/elle eut nous fûmes nous eûmes vous fûtes vous e ...

The past anterior in the text 1 USAGE a The past anterior, like the past historic, is a literary tense not normally used in conv ...

eut couvert(line 6) (past anterior) = had covered (pluperfect). In a less formal register the sentence could read: Quand elle av ...