-L’IMPARFAIT ET LE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ-LE VERBE VENIR-LES PÉPOSITIONS GÉOGRAPHIQUES

Chapter 4 Review

Le passé composéTo say what happened in the past: I went

to the cinemaTo talk about an action that is finished: it

rained but now it’s sunnyTo talk about an action that you did on a

specific date: I played a match on SundayTo talk about an action that happened

once: he fell To mention a sudden event: suddenly, the

music stoppedIt can be compared to the click of a

camera

Main actionInterruptionCompleted actionEnd or beginning

Think…

How is it formed?1. The SubjectFirst comes the subject. This is the person

doing the action. Remember:Je - Tu - Il - Elle - On Nous - Vous - Ils - Elles

But it could also be Marc, Celine, Mes parents, La glace, Le professeur

It is whoever is doing the verb!

2. The Helping Verb

This is the part of avoir or être, known as the auxilliary:

J’ai Je suisTu as Tu esIl/elle/on a Il/elle/on estNous avons Nous sommesVous avez Vous êtesIls / elles ont Ils/elles sont

How do you know which one to use?If it’s one of the MRS VAN DER TRAMP or a reflexive

verb use êtreotherwise it’s avoir.

3. The Past Participle

For most verbs (regular verbs) you can follow the simple rules to change the infinitive to the past participle:

For –ER verbs, take off the ER and add an É Regarder→Regardé

For –IR verbs, take off the IR and add an I Finir →Fini

For –RE verbs, take off the RE and add a URépondre → Répondu

HOWEVER lots of verbs are irregular and we need to learn the past participles of these.

(17 of the Top 20 most used french verbs are irregular!!)DON’T FORGET TO MAKE THE PP ‘AGREE’ IF IT IS

AN ÊTRE VERB! (see right)

L’imparfait

To say what happened in the past but for description purposes: I was singing along peacefully

To talked about an action that is finished but lasted some time: it was raining everyday

To talk about an action that was happening when something sudden happened: I was drinking my cup of tea when the phone rang

To express a condition (before the conditional usually): if I could, I would never work

To talk about something you used to do some time ago: I used to play the piano when I was little

It can be compared to a short video footage

Think…

WeatherAgeTimeCharacteristicsHabitual actionsEmotions Descriptions

How is it formed?

Take the nous form of the verb in the present tenseEx. nous parlons

Take off the –onsAdd the correct ending:Je –ais, tu – ais, il/elle – ait, nous –ions,

vous – iez, -aientEx. Je parlais

The one exception is être... ét-j’étais

L‘imparfait ou le passé composé???

J’ ai parlé

J’ ai commencé

Vous partiez

Nous sommes allés

Il jouait

Ils parlaient

Tu arrivais(Passé

composé)

(Passé composé)

(Passé composé)

(Imparfait)

(Imparfait)(Imparfait)

(Imparfait)

Le verbe venir

Venir means: to comeJe viens Nous venonsTu viens Vous venezIl/elle vient Ils/elles viennent

It is a verb of motion and therefore takes être as its auxiliary in the passé composé

Je suis venu

Les pépositions géographiques

1. Cities to/in = àfrom/of = de (d')

Je vais à Dallas la semaine prochaine.

Je viens de Broughshane.

2. Countries and Continents

In & to From & ofmasculine au (J'habite au

Canada)du (Je viens du Canada)

masculine vowel

en (J'habite en Iran)

d’ (Je viens d'Iran)

feminine en (J'habite en France)

de (Je viens de France)

plural aux (J'habite aux États-Unis)

des (Je viens des États-Unis)

Countries that end in an 'e' are nearly all feminine (except for 'le Mexique', 'le Cambodge'). Countries that end in any other letter are masculine.

Don’t forget…

Vocabulary!!!