Présentée par Megan Brown

First, a review of the conjugations: Passé composé: the name gives a clue about formation – passé for past and composé for compound. The passé composé is a compound tense: A conjugated form of EITHER avoir OR être (called an auxiliary verb) + past participle of the verb you want to use Example: Tu as mangé./ Je suis arrivé.

How to form auxiliary verbs (avoir): Use the present tense of avoir: I: Jai You (singular/informal): Tu as He/she/one: Il a/Elle a/On a We: Nous avons You (formal/plural): Vous avez They: Ils ont/Elles ont

Use the present tense conjugations of être: Je suis, tu es, il est, elle est, on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont, elles sont Only a handful of verbs need être as the auxiliary verb. Here is a link to a site containing a list of them. I recommend reading all four pages: everbs.htm everbs.htm

Regular verb formation follows these patterns: -ER: Remove the ending and add –é (Aller Allé) -IR: Remove the ending and add –i (Réussir Réussi) -RE: Remove the ending and add –u (Répondre Répondu)

Most irregular verbs have irregular past participles. Here are some common irregular verb examples: venir > venu vivre > vécu voir > vu vouloir > voulu pouvoir > pu prendre > pris dire > dit avoir > eu Expanded list: com/od/grammar/a/ pastparticiple_2.htm com/od/grammar/a/ pastparticiple_2.htm

Practice conjugating verbs in the passé composé: Travailler Aller Voir Special challenge (Translate): Saturday he saw his mother, talked to the doctor, and found a cat.

Now that you can conjugate the passé composé, you need to know how to use it: I. An action completed in the past II. An action repeated a number of times in the past III. A series of actions completed in the past The passé composé has three possible English equivalents. For example, j'ai dansé can mean: I danced (simple past) I have danced (present perfect) I did dance (past emphatic)

The imperfect tense is a past tense. You use it for ongoing or repeated past actions, if the action was repeated an unspecific number of times. You also use it for descriptions, states of being, wishes, and suggestions. People usually translate it into English aswas ____-ing, was, or sometimes in the past tense. Examples: The weather was nice yesterday. When I was young, I went to elementary school.

Conjugating the imperfect tense is easy. Find the present tense nous form and drop the –ons ending. Then tack on these endings: Je:-aisNous:-ions Tu:-aisVous:-iez Il/elle/on:-aitIls/elles:-aient

Manger: (Nous mangeons – ons = mange-) Je mangeais, tu mangeais, il mangeait, nous mangions, vous mangiez, ils mangeaient Parler: (Nous parlons – ons = parl-) Je parlais, tu parlais, il parlait, nous parlions, vous parliez, ils parlaient Étudier: (Nous étudions – ons = étudi-) Jétudiais, tu étudiais, il étudiait, nous étudiions, vous étudiiez, ils étudiaient

Être is the only irregular verb in the imperfect tense, because the 3 rd person present tense conjugation, nous sommes, has no –ons ending to drop. Its stem is ét- Jétais, tu étais, il était, nous étions, vous étiez, ils étaient - Some other verbs will undergo spelling changes in the imperfect (like manger), but they are still regular verbs.

Quand j'étais petit, nous allions à la plage chaque semaine. When I was young, we used to go to the beach every week. Il était midi et il faisait beau. It was noon and the weather was nice. Il espérait te voir avant ton départ. He was hoping to see you before you left. Il était à la banque quand il l'a trouvé. He was at the bank when he found it. Ah ! Si j'étais riche ! Oh, if only I were rich!

Passé composéLimparfait I. An action completed in the pastI. Habitual actions or states of being II. An action repeated a specific number of times in the past II. Physical and emotional descriptions: time, weather, age, feelings III. A series of actions completed in the past during a specific time period III. Actions or states of an unspecified duration IV. Background information in conjunction with the passé composé V. Wishes or suggestions

Passé composé focuses on specific past time periods and completed actions. Think of it as your accomplished business exec who has everything together:

Limparfait, on the other hand, deals with vague past time periods, descriptions, and habitual past actions. It is your laid-back beach bum type.

A test on passé composé vs. imparfait: t.htm t.htm Test your ability to conjugate verbs in the imperfect tense: t.htm t.htm