French Grammar in Context

Other points to note in the text

• Pronominal verbs: s’enflamment(line 12); s’empourprent(line 13); s’aventure(line 15); se
  dresse(line 43) (see Chapter 20)


• Adjectives, in particular, colours (lines 3, 4, 7, 11, etc.) (see Chapter 16)


• Omission of the article: Aix-en-Provence, ville d’eau, ville d’art(lines 30–1) (see Chapter 13)

Discover more about the present

1 USAGE

a French uses a simple present for the English progressive.

e.g. J’écris une lettre = I am writing a letter

En train de + infinitive can be used to stress the length of time involved or the ongoing nature

of the action.

e.g. Je suis en train d’écrire une lettre

b The immediate past can be expressed by using venir de + infinitive.

e.g. Je viens de le voir = I have just seen him

c Depuis + present is used in French to express an action which started in the past but is
continuing in the present.
e.g. J’habite dans cette maison depuis quatre ans = I have been living in this house for four years
i The same construction applies to ‘il y a... que’, ‘ça fait... que’, ‘voilà... que’
Il y a quatre ans que j’habite dans cette maison
Ça fait quatre ans que j’habite dans cette maison
Voilà quatre ans que j’habite dans cette maison
ii Note that in English a past tense is always used in this context.

d The simple present in French can be used to refer to the future.

e.g. Demain, c’est promis, j’arrive à l’heure

e In spoken French the present is occasionally used instead of an imperative.

e.g. Tu arrêtes de crier! (= Arrête de crier!)

2 FORMATION

a Apart from the very common verbs in-er, there are two other types of ‘regular’ verbs: verbs ending
in-irlikefinir(although not all verbs ending in-ir) and verbs ending in-relikevendre. To obtain
the present tense of these verbs, remove the-iror-reendings and add the following endings:

je tu il/elle nous vous ils/elles

verbs ending in -ir -is -is -it -issons -issez -issent

verbs ending in -re -s -s — -ons -ez -ent

The present tense 3