The Perfect Tense in 20 minutesThe Perfect Tense Revolution

By Noredine CharefMFL Teacher at Dubai British

School

The common approach

• Sequence 1: Perfect tense with avoir (regular verbs)• Sequence 2: Perfect tense with avoir (irregular verbs)• Sequence 3: Perfect tense with être (Mrs Vandertramp

verbs)• Sequence 4: Perfect tense with être (focus on the past

participle agreement)• Sequence 5: The perfect tense with avoir and être: recap

lesson(s)NB: There are hundreds of resources on each of the sequences above on youtube, the tes…but they never approach them all together in one lesson.

Why is the common approach wrong?? • Too many sequences!!!!

• Core elements taught seperately!

• High level of confusion when bringing the perfect tense together eventually…

Reason 1:teachers deal with avoir seperately!

mmon mistakes then?

J’ai arrivé / je suis mangé

Plenary on avoir avoir verbs only

Starter : only focuses on avoir verbs

….this will lead to confusion

Again avoir verbs only!!

participles…

No past participle argreement with être

verbs!• when us

• ing the être verbs in the past.

Elles sont partiThey forget to make the past participle agree

What is The Perfect Tense Revolution?

• All sequences must be visually accessible to pupils on the first lesson onwards! Everything starts with one question from which the learner will take a series of decisions.

• No more teachers’ translation of “avoir” as to have when it is used as an auxiliary in a sentence in the past such as : J’ai mangé this could have disastrous consequences with the new GCSE French in 2016 as translation.

• Following lessons should dwell on sentence extensions/ negative and reflexive verbs…

Key question: Is the verb I want to use part of the rainbow verb list below? (aka Mrsvandertramp verbs)

Add a past participleAs follows

+MRS VAN DER TRAMPThese verbs take êtreMourir (to die) - mortRetourner (to return) – retournéSortir (to go out) - sortirVenir (to come) - venuArriver (to arrive) - arrivéNaître (to be born) - néDescendre (to go down) - descendu Entrer (to enter) - entréRentrer (to return) - rentréTomber (to fall) - tombéRester (to stay) - restéAller (to go) - alléMonter (to go up) - montéPartir (to leave) - parti

DON’T FORGET to make the Past Participle agree with the subject (who is doing the action) if it goes with être.

For feminine, add an extra EFor masculin plural, add an SFor feminine plural, add ES

Eg. Elle est allée Nous sommes allé(e)s Ils sont allés

Auxiliary etre

Je suis Tu esIl/elle estNous sommesVous etesIls/elles sont

Auxiliary avoir

J’ai Tu as Il/elle aNous avonsVous avezIls/elles ont

If not

then

ap

ply

the

rue

belo

w

Is the vb you want to use IRREGULAR ?Apprendre (to learn) - apprisAvoir (to have) - euBoire (to drink) - buComprendre (to understand) - comprisCourir (to run) - couruDire (to say) – ditÉcrire (to write) - écrit Faire (to do) – faitLire (to read) – luMettre (to put) - misOuvrir (to open) - ouvertPrendre (to take) – prisRecevoir (to receive) - reçuVoir (to see) – vu

-er verbs:er = é

-ir verbs: = i

-re verbs:re = u

The Perfectatron!For completed actions in the past:

did, made, ate, played...

J’ai joué

Is your verb a MRS VAN DER TRAMP verb?

These verbs take êtreInfinitive (English) past participleMourir (to die) - mortRetourner (to return) – retournéSortir (to go out) - sortirVenir (to come) - venuArriver (to arrive) - arrivéNaître (to be born) - néDescendre (to go down) - descendu Entrer (to enter) - entréRentrer (to return) - rentréTomber (to fall) - tombéRester (to stay) - restéAller (to go) - alléMonter (to go up) - montéPartir (to leave) – parti

Start here!

If yes use être + past participleJe suisTu esIl/Elle/On estNous sommesVous êtesIls/Elle sont

DON’T FORGET to make the Past Participle agree with the subject (who is doing the action) if it goes with être.For feminine, add an extra EFor masculin plural, add an SFor feminine plural, add ESEg. Elle est allée. Nous sommes allé(e)s. Ils sont allés. Je me suis réveillé (m). Je me suis réveillée (f).

If no, is your verb a reflexive verb?E.g. Se réveiller = to wake up, se laver = to wash, se doucher = to shower, se coucher = to go to bed.If yes use + être + past participle

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

If no, does the verb have an irregular past participle. Common examples:Apprendre (to learn) – appris, Avoir (to have) – eu, Boire (to drink) - buComprendre (to understand) – compris, Courir (to run) - couruDire (to say) – dit, Écrire (to write) - écrit , Faire (to do) – fait, Lire (to read) – lu, Mettre (to put) – mis, Ouvrir (to open) – ouvert, Prendre (to take) – pris, Recevoir (to receive) – reçu, Voir (to see) – vu

e.g. Je suis allé(e) = I

went

No

If yes, use avoir + past participleJ’aiTu asIl/Elle/On aNous avonsVous avezIls/Elles ont

e.g. J’ai fait du ski = I went skiing

Yes

If no, your verb must have a regular past participle

No

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 U - Répondre → Répondu

e.g. J’ai fini mes devoirs

Negatives: Je n’ai pas joué, je ne suis pas allé(e), je ne me suis pas lavé(e)

Merci!