Present vs. past - Mme Zakus 2015

Present vs. past
Fr10
Mme Zakus
Conjugating regular present
tense verbs
To conjugate a regular verb, these are the
steps:
 Identify the –ER, -IR, or -RE ending in the
verb: aimer, finir, attendre
 Drop the ending off. This leaves you with a
root, which does not change: aim, fin, attend
 Finally, add the endings to the verb.
Endings for –ER verbs
Regular -ER verbs use the following endings
 JE –e
 TU –es
 IL/ELLE/ON –e
 NOUS –ons
 VOUS –ez
 ILS/ELLES –ent
AIMER – to like
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J’aime
Tu aimes
Il/Elle/On aime
Nous aimons
Vous aimez
Ils/Elles aiment
Special cases
Célébrer – to celebrate
The second accent aigue
changes to an accent
grave for je, tu,
il/elle/on and ils/elles
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Je célèbre
Tu célèbres
Il/Elle/On célèbre
Nous célébrons
Vous célébrez
Ils/Elles célèbrent
Other verbs that follow
this pattern: préférer,
espérer, répéter
Manger – to eat
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We have to bring back
the e for the nous form.
Otherwise, we don’t
preserve the je sound.
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Je mange
Tu manges
Il/Elle/On mange
Nous mangeons
Vous mangez
Ils/Elles mangent
Voyager and nager will
also do this
Endings for –IR verbs
Regular -IR verbs use the following endings
 JE –is
 TU –is
 IL/ELLE/ON – it
 NOUS –issons
 VOUS –issez
 ILS/ELLES –issent
FINIR – to finish
Je finis
 Tu finis
 Il/Elle/On finit
 Nous finissons
 Vous finissez
 Ils/Elles finissent
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Endings for –RE verbs
Regular -RE verbs use the following endings
 JE –s
 TU –s
 IL/ELLE/ON – nothing to add
 NOUS –ons
 VOUS –ez
 ILS/ELLES –ent
ATTENDRE – to wait
J’attends
 Tu attends
 Il/Elle/On attend
 Nous attendons
 Vous attendez
 Ils/Elles attendent
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High frequency irregulars
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Avoir, être, faire and aller are our four most
used verbs
They allow us to communicate the things we
have, who we are, what we do and where we
go
As with all irregulars, you simply must know
the verb by heart
Endings share some things!
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Il/Elle  Vous
 -D
 -EZ
 -A
*êtes, dites, faites
 -T
 Ils/Elles
 -E
 -ENT
 Nous
 -ONT (vont,
sont, ont, font)
 -ONS
*sommes
Je
-S
-E
-X
-AI
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Tu
-S
-(E,A)
-X
When do we use present?
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We use it to express facts (our age, our
personality, our looks, our likes, our dislikes,
etc.)
We use it to talk about things that we are
doing right now (today!)
Passé composé
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past tense composed (uses two verbs)
avoir ou être au présent + verbe au passé
REMEMBER…only 16 verbs will conjugate
with être in the past (which means everything
else is with avoir)
Conjugating past tense verbs
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Like the present, regular verbs in the past will
follow the usual pattern of dropping the
ending and replacing it with the following:
ER = é
IR = i
RE = u
-ER: le verbe aimer
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Aimer  aim
J’ai aimé
Tu as aimé
Il/Elle/On a aimé
Nous avons aimé
Vous avez aimé
Ils/Elles ont aimé
Elle a aimé Cupidon.
-IR: le verbe finir
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Finir  fin
J’ai fini
Tu as fini
Il/Elle/On a fini
Nous avons fini
Vous avez fini
Ils/Elles ont fini
Il a fini un gros déjeuner.
-RE: le verbe vendre
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Vendre  vend
J’ai vendu
Tu as vendu
Il/Elle/On a vendu
Nous avons vendu
Vous avez vendu
Ils/Elles ont vendu
J’ai vendu un grand gâteau.
ATTENTION!
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The big difference between avoir and être is
that être uses agreement in gender and
number
Nous sommes revenus à la fête
Ma mère est née le 15 mars
Ils sont allés au cinéma
Elles sont allées au cinéma
Two tricks for être
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DR MRS VANDERTRAMP or…
Ally rents the entrance to Monty’s
Tomb to rest before returning
Venny and her two sisters arrived at
the party sort of dead
Descendants are born. Reflect on this!
Le code
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Ally – Aller
Rents – Rentrer
Entrance – Entrer
Monty – Monter
Tomb – Tomber
Rest- rester
Returning – retourner
Venny and her two sisters – Venir, Devenir, Revenir
Arrived – arriver
Party – partir
Sort – sortir
Dead – mourir
Descendants – descendre
Born - naître
Les verbes irréguliers
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As in the present, we have irregular verbs
These irregulars will not follow the rule of
dropping the ending and replacing it
The easiest thing to do is simply remember
what the irregular forms are for which verbs
Irregulars using Avoir
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Courir  couru
Vouloir  voulu
Recevoir  reçu
Dire  dit
Voir  vu
Prendre  pris
Apprendre  appris
Mettre  mis
Lire  lu
Écrire  écrit
Avoir  eu
Être  été
Faire  fait
Irregulars using Être
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Three verbs follow a similar pattern
Venir  venu (to come to)
Devenir  devenu (to become)
Revenir  revenu (to come back)
Two are opposites
Naître  né (to be born)
Mourir  mort (to die)
Le négatif
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Usually, when we have to deal with two
verbs, we will put ne..pas around the first
verb
So…we will put ne…pas around avoir
Il n’a pas aimé le filme « Les dents de la
mer »
When do we use the past?
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We use it to express things that happened
yesterday, a few days ago, a week ago, a
month ago or even a year ago
Past tense is a precise action in the past;
we’ve done it once and we don’t do it again
Some indicators for time: yesterday, a time, a
date