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Allons!
Bienvenu(e)! Having given yourself a substantial grounding in grammar during Francais I, you are now ready to tackle more complex issues surrounding the French language.
French grammar is a beast, but one that can be tamed. The productive student of French will approach grammar with an open and enquiring mind. There are terms that will dazzle and bamboozle, but the aim of this course is to simplify the over-complicated, and sooth the fevered brow of the budding linguist.
Prior Learning
It is useful to consider what you already know, before it is built upon. You now know what a noun, adjective, and verb are, and have seen examples in both English and French.
- A noun assigns a name to something. Dog, book, fish, happiness, deoxyribonucleic acid.
- A verb tells us what nouns are doing to themselves and each other. Create, make, draw, hope, design.
- An adjective tells us what the noun is like. Blue, spherical, unpleasant, frustrated, politically right-wing.
You've also been introduced to the three main french verb families, or conjugations. They have infinitives ending in either -ER, -IR, or -RE. You can conjugate all three families in the Present Indicative tense.
However, unfortunately we all have a past. Therefore, we need to express this linguistically. Student, meet the Perfect Tense.
The French Perfect Tense
First, some basics. The French Perfect Tense is one of the language's past tenses. It tells us that an action occured in the past, and is now completed.
The 'Perfect' aspect means that the action has been completed and is finished. This is not the tense to use if the action is still occuring in the present day.
Hence, 'j'ai joué au foot' is 'I played football' (but am no longer).
The Perfect cannot be used for 'I was _____ing' constructions. This nuance of meaning demands another French tense, The Imperfect, which will be covered in subsequent sections.
First, formation. To form the perfect, we need to revisit our three 'verb families'. For the sake of clarity, the author intends to employ the same three verbs throughout to demonstrate grammatical points. They are:
- jouer, a regular, first-conjugation verb, meaning 'to play'
- finir, a regular, second-conjugation verb, meaning 'to finish'
- vendre, a regular, third conjugation verb, meaning 'to sell'.
The endings of the French Perfect Tense
Verbs ending in -er.
The French Perfect combines two elements.
- The french verb avoir in the present tense. This verb means 'to have', and
- The past participle, which comes from the infinitive of the verb.
The stem or root of a verb, is simply the infinitive with the last two letters removed. It is this stem which provides us with the building block on which to add an 'e acute', or -é. So the stem of jouer is jou-.
| |
singular |
plural |
| first person |
je(I)= ai (stem)+é |
nous(we)= avons (stem)+é |
| second person |
informal |
tu(you)= as (stem)+é |
vous(you all)= avez (stem)+é |
| formal |
vous(you)= avez (stem)+é |
| third person |
masculine |
il(he)= a (stem)+é |
ils(they)= ont (stem)+é |
| feminine |
elle(she)= a (stem)+é |
elles(they)= ont (stem)+é |
So, then, consider,
- j'ai joué, I played, I did play
- tu as joué, you played, you did play (when talking informally, to someone you know well, or a child)
- il/elle/on a joué, he/she/one played, did play
- nous avons joué, we played, we did play
- vous avez joué, you played, you did play (when talking formally, to an 'elder or better', or to a group
- ils ont joué, they (group of males, or a mixed crowd) played, they did play
- elles ont joué, they (a group comprising solely of females) played, they did play.
Please note the use of ils or elles. The French language demands that, even if there were a room full of ten thousand females and just one (lucky) male, the masculine ils would be demanded.
Verbs ending in -ir.
Again, take your stem. But with -ir verbs, we simply add an -i.
| |
singular |
plural |
| first person |
je(I)= ai (stem)+i |
nous(we)= avons (stem)+i |
| second person |
informal |
tu(you)= as (stem)+i |
vous(you all)= avez (stem)+i |
| formal |
vous(you)= avez (stem)+i |
| third person |
masculine |
il(he)= a (stem)+i |
ils(they)= ont (stem)+i |
| feminine |
elle(she)= a (stem)+i |
elles(they)= ont (stem)+i |
So, then, consider,
- j'ai fini, I finished, I did finish.
- tu as fini, you finished, you did finish (when talking informally, to someone you know well, or a child)
- il/elle/on a fini, he/she/one finished, did finish
- nous avons fini, we finished, we did finish
- vous avez fini, you finished, you did finish (when talking formally, to an 'elder or better', or to a group
- ils ont fini, they (group of males, or a mixed crowd) finished, they did finish
- elles ont fini, they (a group comprising solely of females) finished, they did finish.
Verbs ending in -re.
Stem-time again. But this time we add -u.
| |
singular |
plural |
| first person |
je(I)= ai (stem)+u |
nous(we)= avons (stem)+u |
| second person |
informal |
tu(you)= as (stem)+u |
vous(you all)= avez (stem)+u |
| formal |
vous(you)= avez (stem)+u |
| third person |
masculine |
il(he)= a (stem)+u |
ils(they)= ont (stem)+u |
| feminine |
elle(she)= a (stem)+u |
elles(they)= ont (stem)+u |
So, then, consider,
- j'ai vendu, I sold, I did sell.
- tu as vendu, you sold, you did sell (when talking informally, to someone you know well, or a child)
- il/elle/on a vendu, he/she/one sold, did sell
- nous avons vendu, we sold, we did sell
- vous avez vendu, you sold, you did sell (when talking formally, to an 'elder or better', or to a group
- ils ont vendu, they (group of males, or a mixed crowd) sold, they did sell
- elles ont vendu, they (a group comprising solely of females) sold, they did sell.
Once you have mastered this pattern, you can decline any regular french verb in the perfect tense.
Activities surrounding the Perfect Tense
There follows a list of infinitives from all three families of French verb. Use them to translate the English phrases that follow into French.
- chanter, to sing
- aimer, to love
- regarder, to look at
- habiter, to live in
- piquer, to poke
- caresser, to stroke
- faillir, to nearly have done. Use with another infinitive.
- rougir, to blush
- réussir, to succeed
- rendre, to surrender
- 1. I sang
- 2. We sang
- 3. You (group) sang
- 4. They loved (all female)
- 5. One looked at
- 6. He lived in
- 7. They lived in (two females and two males)
- 8. You poked (one person)
- 9. We stroked (stop sniggering!)
- 10. I nearly died (clue: mourir = to die)
- 11. I blushed
- 12. They succeeded (all males)
- 13. You surrendered (talking to a child)
You should have got something like:
1. J'ai chanté 2. Nous avons chanté 3. Vous avez chanté 4. Elles ont aimé 5. On a regardé 6. Il a habité 7. Ils ont habité 8. Tu as piqué 9. Nous avons caressé 10. J'ai failli mourir 11. J'ai rougi 12. Ils ont réussi 13. Tu as rendu.
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