Tenses

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  • Created by: Cake
  • Created on: 16-12-12 13:24

The Present Tense - Le Présent

The Use:

  • To say what you are doing now  
  • To express a repeated action 
  • To say "I have being doing" with 'depuis' or 'ça fait' e.g. Je joue tennis depuis 6 ans
  • To use with 'si' then followed by a future tense i.e. Si + present, future simple

ER Endings: e, es, e, ons, ez, ent

IR Endings: is, is, it, issons, issez, issent

RE Endings: s,s, /, ons, ez, ent

Irregularities in irregular verbs affect the ‘Je’ ‘Tu’ ‘Il’ and ‘Ils’ forms

Acheter à J’achéte  : S’appele àJe m’apelle : Jeter à Je Jetter 

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The Future Tense - Le Futur

The use of the future tense:

  • To express what you will do

To form the future :

  • Leave the verb in the infinitif and add the verb endings (similar to avoir of the present) 

  --> ai, as, a, ons, ez, ent e.g. Je jouerai/ nous finirons

  • However with RE verbs, remove the E e.g. Je vendrai
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The Conditional Tense - Le Conditionnel

The use of the condional tense:

  • To express what would or could happen in the future 

The formation of the conditional is the same as the future with differnt endings 

--> ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient e.g. Je jouerais/ nous finirions/ je vendrais 

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The Imperfect tense - L'imparfait

The Use:

  • To say what you used to do
  • To describe the weather or your feelings
  • To describe an ongoing action ( I was ...ing) 

Formation

  • Find the "nous" form of the verb in the present
  • Add the correct endings

--> ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient

Example: 

Manger --> Nous mangeons --> Je mangeais/ tu mangeais/ il mangeait / nous mangeions

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The Perfect tense-Avoir - Le Passé Composé-Avoir

The use:

  • To talk about an action that happend at a particular point in the past

Formation:

Avoir in the present tense + The past participle

Example:

J'ai fini mes devoirs ( I finished my homework)

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The Perfect tense-Être - Le Passé Composé-Être

The Use:

  • To form the perfect tense with verbs that do not use the auxiliary Avoir

Verbs specific to Être:

Tomber, Venir, Monter, Arriver, Naitre, Sortir, Rester, Enter, Desendre, Partir, Retourner, Aller, Mourir 

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The Imperative - L'impératif

The use:

  • To give orders, recommendations or advice

Formations:

  • The imperative only exisits in the "Tu" the "Nous" and the "Vous" forms of a verb but without the subject pronoun

E.g. Choisir --> Tu choisis --> Choisis la liberté

  • With verbs ending in ER, drop the final S

E.g. Arrêter --> tu arrêtes --> arrête de fumer

Exceptions:

Avoir - aie, ayez, ayons. Être - sois, soyez, soyons. Savoir - sache, sachez, sachons

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The Present Participle - Le Participe Présent

The Use:

  • To say by (verb)ing i.e. by doing, by eating, by living, by knowing 

Formation:

  • Take the nous from of the present tense
  • Remove the 'ons'
  • Add 'ant'
  • Add 'En' in front to mean 'By' 

Nous jouons --> jou --> jouant --> En jouant (by playing)

Irregulars: 

There are only 3

Être --> en étant. Avoir --> en ayant. Savoir --> en sachant 

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