Archives du Tag: Grammaire

Le participe passé 2

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Past participles

1 Formation of past participles

For -er verbs, remove the -er ending from the infinitive and replace with -é:

danser               dansé

For -ir verbs, remove the -ir ending from the infinitive and replace with -i:

choisir                 choisi

For -re verbs, remove the -re from the infinitive and replace with -u:

attendre             attendu

There are a large number of irregular formations of the past participle. Here are some of the most important:

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Le passé composé

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Le Passé composé Avec AVOIR


Le futur proche

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Talking about the future+Making plans
The same structure is used in English and in French to express that something is going to happen in the future: the verb “to go” + the infinitive form of another verb.

Examples: We are “going to study” French . You are “going to continue” your study of French.

So to make a near future, in English, simple : I’m going to +any verb.
In French, just as simple : Je vais+verb

Of course, you wil have to know the irregular verb aller:

je vais, tu vas, il/elle va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont

Here are a few a few samples:
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Les participes passés irréguliers

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Irregular Past Participles

avoir to have eu had   ouvrir to open ouvert opened
connaître to know connu known   offrir to offer offert offered
croire to believe cru believed   pouvoir to be able to pu was able to
devoir to have to dû had to   prendre to take pris taken
dire to tell dit said   apprendre to learn appris learned
écrire to write écrit written   comprendre to understand compris understood
être to be été been   surprendre to surprise surpris surprised
faire to do, make fait made   recevoir to receive reçu received
lire to read lu read   rire to laugh ri laughed
mettre to put mis put   savoir to know su known
permettre to permit permis permitted   voir to see vu seen
promettre to promise promis promised   vouloir to want voulu wanted

L’impératif 2

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Commands

Use the vous, tu and nous forms for commands.
Vous Polite and Plural Same as verb form Ecoutez !
Tu Familiar Same as verb form, but
drop -s for -er verbs		 Regarde !
Nous Let’s… Same as verb form Allons !

With using pronominal verbs as commands, the pronoun is placed after the verb connected by a hyphen.
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Le plus-que-parfait

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Pluperfect

This compound tense is used for flashbacks or anything that had happened before the time of the narration.  It’s formed with the imperfect tenseof avoir or être and the past participle of the main verb.  This tense is to the imperfect tense what the passé composé is to the present tense. Lire la suite →

Le Participe passé

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The Past Participle

 

In English this is often rendered by the ending -ed (walked, talked, seated, opened, etc) but also by -d (found), -t (slept, leapt) or -en (given, spoken, taken) or special spellings (such as gone, run, swum, etc).

In French the Past Participle ends in -e for -er verbs,-i for -ir verbs, -u for -re verbs.

 

 

-er -é donner, donné
-re -u vendre, vendu

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La voix passive 2

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The passive

The active form = the subject of the verb is carrying out the action of the verb.

The passive form = when the subject is not carrying out the action of the verb, but is on the receiving end.

Le chien a poursuivi le chat

The dog chased the cat

Le chat a été poursuivi par le chien

The cat was chased by the dog

Formation

The French passive is formed in a similar way to the English passive.

L’homme lave la voiture.

  • The passive verb is formed by replacing the active verb with être plus the past participle of the active verb: mange —> est lavé
  • The object of the sentence becomes the subject: … lave la voiture —> La voiture est lavée…
  • The subject of the sentence is placed after the verb and is used with par: L’homme lave … —> … est lavée par l’homme.

La police a surpris les cambrioleurs.

Les cambrioleurs ont été surpris par la police

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La voix passive 1

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Passive Voice

 

As in English, the passive voice in French is composed of a tense of the verb to be and a past participle. Any transitive verb with a direct object can be made passive.

The active form:      

Le chat mange la souris is made passive : La souris est mangée par le chat.      

Il sert le repas. Le repas est servi par lui.      

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Depuis, il y a & pendant

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Depuis, il y a, and pendant in past contexts

1. To express an action that has been going on, depuis (or il y a … que) is used with the present tense.

Depuis quand avez-vous votre moto?

Depuis combien de temps avez-vous votre moto?

        Je l’ai depuis trois mois.

        Ça fait trois mois que je l’ai.

        Il y a trois mois que je l’ai..

Il conduit depuis longtemps.

        He has been driving for a long time.

 

2. But to express an action that had been going on for some time when something else happened, depuis is used with the imperfect.

Je conduisais depuis deux heures,quand j’ai entendu un bruit bizarre.

        I had been driving for two hours I heard a strange noise.

 

3. To express an action that you have not done for some time, use depuis with the passé composé.

Je n’ai pas été au cinéma depuis les dernières vacances.                

        I haven’t been to the cinema since the last             holidays.

 

4. To express an action that was done for a period of time, pendant is used, usually with the passé composé. But for an action that was completed some time ago, use il y a, also with the passé composé.

Il a habité dans un hôtel pendant une semaine.        

        I lived in an hotle for a week.

Ils ont séjourné à Londres il y a dix ans.

        They stayed in London ten years ago.

 

 

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