Rvision grammaire : les temps du pass : imparfait, pass compos et plus-que-parfait You learned that the imparfait tense

se is used to describe people and places in the past. To talk about the weather in the past, we also use the imparfait. Use of the Imperfect tense to describe memories : limparfait pour voquer des souvenirs. Exemples : Past tense avant, il y avait / ctait Avant, il y avait beaucoup de villages traditionnels Singapour. Ctait trs convivial.
Lemploi de limparfait : Limparfait is used to: Describe a situation, a thing, a person, an animal, a place, etc... in the past. Example : Il tait midi, le ciel tait bleu et le soleil brillait. (It was noon, the sky was blue and the sun was shining) Express a habitual event in the past. Example : Tous les dimanches, nous djeunions chez nos grands-parents. (Every Sunday, we were having lunch at my grandparents place) Express what was happening when a precise action took place. Example : Quand jai quitt lcole, il pleuvait. (When I left school, it was raining)

Present tense

maintenant, il y a / cest

Maintenant, il y a beaucoup de logements HLM. Cest moins chaleureux.

Rappel: la formation de limparfait

radical (infinitive of the verb at the nous form in the present tense) + terminaison (you change the ending of the verb) :

-ais -ais -ait -iez

-ions -aient Exemple faire = to do : nous faisons fais + change with the ending of imparfait je tu il/elle/on nous vous ils/elles Autres exemples de conjugaisons : AVOIR javais tu avais il/elle avait nous avions vous aviez TRE j tais tu tais il/elle tait nous tions vous tiez PRENDRE Je prenais tu prenais il/elle prenait nous prenions vous preniez faisais faisais faisait faisions faisiez faisaient I did You did He/she/it did We did You did They did

ils/elles avaient

ils/elles taient

ils/elles prenaient

Les verbes en -GER, -CER, et les verbes pleuvoir et falloir ont aussi une conjugaison irrgulire : MANGER = to eat Je mangeais tu mangeais il/elle mangeait nous mangions vous mangiez ils/elles mangeaient
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COMMENCER= to start Je commenais tu commenais il/elle commenait nous commencions vous commenciez ils/elles commenaient

PLEUVOIR = to rain il pleuvait

FALLOIR= to have to Il fallait

Exercice de conjugaison

Conjuguez les verbes entre parenthses l'imparfait. 1. Je (lire) _____________________________________ le journal. 2. Vous (faire) _________________________________ du tennis. 3. Elles (suivre) ________________________________ des cours de chinois. 4. Ils (avoir) ___________________________________ les mmes gots que leurs parents. 5. Tu (aller) ___________________________________ la piscine tous les samedis. 6. cinq ans, Ccile (savoir) ___________________________ dj compter de un mille. 7. On (boire) _________________________________________ beaucoup de Coca. 8. Benot et Luc (se bagarrer: to fight) ______________________________ tout le temps. 9. Nous (se laver) __________________________________ les cheveux dans la rivire. 10.Ils (scrire) ___________________________________ une fois par an.

Le pass compos. Laccord du participe pass : rvisions

Le pass compos is one of the compound tenses in French. To form the perfect tense, we need two parts: - An auxiliary (auxiliaire avoir ou tre) in the present tense - A past participle (participe pass) It is essential that both elements are included. To form the past participle: -er verbs : take off the er and replace with (manger mang) -ir verbs : take off the ir and replace with i (finir fini) -re verbs : take off the re and replace with u (vendre vendu) Some past participles are irregular and need to be learned: Infinitif avoir = to have boire = to drink connatre = to know courir = to run croire = to believe devoir = to have to dcouvrir = to discover dire = to tell, to say crire = to write tre = to be faire = to do lire = to read metre = to put mourir = to die natre = to be born ouvrir = to open pouvoir = can prendre = to take recevoir = to receive savoir = to know venir = to come vivre = to live voir = to see vouloir = to want Participe pass eu bu connu couru cru d dcouvert dit crit t fait lu mis mort (e/s) n (e/s) ouvert pu pris reu su venu vcu vu voulu

Most verbs use the auxiliaire avoir; the past participle usually remains unchanged. Ex: Jai cherch Tu as bu Il a ouvert Elle a fait Nous avons entendu Vous avez cru Ils ont fini Elles ont voulu

Note that: Past participles have an additional final e, -s or es to agree with the subject when tre is the auxiliary used to form the perfect tense. Ex: Elles sont parties hier. Verbs which take tre Aller Arriver Entrer Monter Natre Retourner Rester To To To To To To To go arrive enter, to go in go up be born return stay Venir Partir Sortir Descendre Mourir Passer Tomber To To To To To To To come leave go out down die go past fall

And also : rentrer, devenir, revenir, redescendre, remonter, ressortir With all these Etre verbs, the past participle must agree with the subject of the verb in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural). Ex: Nom masculine: Nom feminine: Paolo est venu hier. Sylvie est venue. Ils sont venus hier. Elles sont venues. Reflexive verbs (verbes pronominaux) are another group of verbs which take Etre as their auxiliary in the pass compos. Ex: Alain sest couch minuit. Marie sest leve tt. In genuine reflexive verbs those in which the subject performs the action to or for him/herself and which show agreement of the past participle, the reflexive pronoun is the direct object of the verb. Ex: se laver elle sest lave. In reciprocal pronominal verbs where the subjects perform the action of the verb to/for each other, the same principle applies. Where the pronoun is the direct object, agreement is shown: Ex: Jean et Michel se sont vus hier (= voir quelquun) Where the pronoun is the indirect object, there is no agreement: Ex: Jean et Michel se sont parl (= parler quelquun)

Exercice dapplication INCL UDE PICT URE "http: //t1.g static

Faites laccord du participe pass si ncessaire.

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1. Elle est arriv___ trois heures. 2. Ils sont parti___ en voiture. 3. Lucie a chant___ pour son anniversaire. 4. Elles se sont rveill___ trs tard. 5. Sophie a pass___ un examen difficile. 6. Mes soeurs sont pass___ chez moi. 7. Les enfants ont vu___ un film dhorreur. 8. Nous avons habit___ Paris. 9. Elle sest mari___ avec un dentiste.

10.Luc et Max sont mont___ dans le train.

Le pass compos et limparfait pour raconter une rencontre

The imparfait is used to describe the past. The pass compos is used to narrate individual events in the past. Novels and stories use the imparfait to set the scene with a description. Un jour d'automne, un jeune homme marchait dans la rue. Le ciel tait gris et il pleuvait lgrement. Le jeune homme tait grand et il portait un gros chapeau. Il marchait lentement. Il tait triste. One Autumn day, a young man was walking on the street. The sky was grey and it was raining lightly. The young man was tall and he was wearing a large hat. He walked slowly. He was sad. Novels and stories use the pass compos to tell you what happened. Tout d'un coup, le jeune homme a gliss sur une peau de banane. Son chapeau est tomb sur le trottoir. Quatre enfants ont commenc rire. Suddenly, the young man slipped on a banana peel. His hat fell onto the sidewalk. Four children started to laugh. Summary You should generally use the imparfait... when describing in the past when when narrating completed events in narrating incomplete or interrupted the past events in the past when relating repeated, habitual events in the past with expressions of time that suggest with expressions of time that suggest completion, duration, starting points repetition: or ending points: souvent pendant trois jours frquemment pendant les vacances chaque lundi entre 7h00 et 7h30 tous les jours il y a une heure longtemps toujours encore You should generally use the pass compos...

You, the speaker, the narrator, can often choose which of the two tenses you wish to use, depending on what connotations you wish to convey. Ex. Hier, je t'ai attendu (pass compos) devant le cinma. Ex. Yesterday I waited for you in front of the movie the cinema. (Connotations: I waited for you for a certain period of time. Then I stopped. I gave up. I went home.) Ex. Hier, je t'attendais (imparfait) devant le cinma. Ex. Yesterday I was waiting for you in front of the cinema. (Connotations: I waited for you endlessly, forever. I was expecting you.) Both sentences could be used to describe the same wait. The length of the actual wait can be the same for each. But in the second example there is more emphasis on the waiting itself, with the suggestion that it seemed endless, whereas the first example also stresses the giving up and going home alone. You have to make sure, though, that your choice of tense does not clash with other elements in the sentence. If you were to specify that you waited ' pendant trois heures', for example, you would have to use the pass compos. 'Pendant trois heures' mentions a specific duration, it indicates starting and ending points, and suggests completion, so you need also to use the tense that indicates duration and starting and ending points and completion. Ex. Hier, je t'ai attendu devant le cinma pendant trois heures. Ex. Yesterday, I had been waiting for you for three hours. You can't wait for someone endlessly for three hours, so you can't use the imperfect in this situation. You may have gathered by now that the imparfait and the pass compos are partners that are used together, often in the same sentence, whenever someone is talking about the past. If you see a pass compos, there's bound to be an imparfait somewhere nearby, because they complement each other well and make for stylish narratives.

Time indicators: la veille, le lendemain, etc...

To tell a story in the past, we use time indicator of the past. Prsent Il y a deux mois (2 months ago) Aujourdhui (today) Hier (yesterday) Demain (tomorrow) Dans deux jours (In two days) Pass Deux mois avant Ce jour-l (that day) la veille (the day before) le lendemain (the day after) Deux jours plus tard (two days later)

Le plus-que-parfait
"Parfait" means "perfectly" or "completely" done. "Plus-que-parfait" means "more than done". Therefore it is more remote in the past than the "pass" of the pass compos or of the imparfait. When you tell a story about a past event, you use the pass compos to talk about the actions and the imparfait to describe the circumstances and situations. Sometimes you go further back into the past to express what had happened before the main event of the sentence or the story line. Then you use the plus-que-parfait. Uses : In past narration, the plus-que-parfait is used to express an action which precedes another past action or moment. In other words, the action in the plus-que-parfait is prior to another past action or moment. In English the plus-que-parfait is indicated by had + past participle. In affirmative sentences in French, it is often (but not always), accompanied by the adverb dj (already). Formation The pluperfect (le plus-que-parfait) is formed with the auxiliary in the imparfait followed by the past participle of the pass compos. manger sortir j' avais j' tais tu avais tu tais il/elle/ on avait mang il/ elle/ on tait sorti(e)(s) nous avions nous tions vous aviez vous tiez ils/elles avaien ils taient t The negation : It is formed in the usual manner by placing ne ... pas around the conjugated verb, which in this case is the auxiliary: Je n'avais pas mang (I had not eaten) Je n'tais pas all (I had not gone), etc. The diagram below shows the uses of the different past tenses along a time line: Plus-queparfait for actions that are anterior to the story

Imparfait for situation s

Pass compos for actions

Prsent

Futur

The pass compos, the imparfait and the plus-que-parfait enable to differentiate 3 different moments in the past, see the examples below.

What is the tense used in each sentence? What is the idea conveyed by each tense? A. Quand je me suis lev : 1. ma mre avait prpar le petit djeuner. 2. ma mre prparait le petit djeuner. 3. ma mre a prpar le petit djeuner. 1. Anne avait pleur. 2. Anne pleurait. 3. Anne a pleur.

B. Quand je suis rentr:

1. The use of the plus-que-parfait. Conveys the idea that the action is finished . My mother prepared breakfast. Anne had cried. 2. Use of the imparfait. Conveys the idea that the action started before but is still continuing into the present. My mother was preparing breakfast. Anne was crying 3.Use of the pass-compos. Conveys the idea that the action took place, and in this case after the previous action. My mother prepared breakfast. Anne cried.

Laccord avec le COD

LA RGLE DE LACCORD AVEC LE COD (Complment dObjet Direct) The rule of the agreement with the direct object If the direct object is written BEFORE a verb in the pass compos, then the past participle agrees with the direct object Example : Jai mang une pomme. La pomme que jai mange est bonne.

(The direct object [ la pomme ] is written BEFORE the verb in pass compos [ ai mang ], therefore, the past participle [ mang ] agrees with the direct object) Direct object la pomme is feminine, therefore the past participle mang becomes feminine as well mange As the pronoms COD (direct object pronouns) are always placed BEFORE the verb, this rule applies whenever they appear in a sentence : La pomme ? Je lai achete lpicerie. (The direct object [ l , refering to la pomme ] comes BEFORE the verb in the pass compos [ ai achet ], therefore the past participle [ achet ] agrees with the direct object)

Point Langue : AE2 page 66 a) Reliez les informations de la dclaration de Maxime. Jai entendu la moto. Je les ai vus. La femme que jai aperue Je lai reconnue Ils taient deux. Ctait une Honda. Elle avait des cheveux longs, blonds. Elle arrivait toute vitesse.

b) Observez le participe pass des verbes au pass compos et compltez la rgle. Pour les temps compos avec le verbe avoir, le participe pass saccorde avec le complment dobjet direct plac avant le verbe. plac aprs le verbe.