French Past Tenses

The Perfect Tense
1. Être
  1. This is how you would write these verbs: Je suis allé, Je suis sorti, Je suis descendu.
  2. There are 14 of these verbs: Monter, Rentrer, Sortir, Venir, Aller, Naître, Descendre, Entrer, Retouner, Tomber, Rester, Arriver, Mourir and Partir. Also known as MRS VANDERTRAMP.
  3. Être = To Be. Je suis, Tu es, Il est, Nous sommes, Vous êtes, Ils sont.
2. Avoir
  1. Regular
    1. Just the normal start shown above + a verb, e.g. J'ai regardé, Ils ont allés.
  2. Irregular
    1. There are a few irregular verbs that have strange endings. Boire, to drink is one of them - J'ai bu. There are about 25 others.
  3. Avoir = To Have. J'ai, Tu as, Il a, Nous avons, Vous avez, Ils ont.
The Imperfect Tense
1. In the imperfect tense, there is no être or avoir. Each way you say something has its own type of ending, though.
2. However, these endings follow a pattern: Je = ...ais, Tu = ...ais, Il = ...ait, Nous = ...ions, Vous = ...iez, Ils = ...aient
3. Example: J'étais, Tu étais, Il était, Nous étions, Vous étiez, Ils étaient. These are all forms of être.

Resource summary

	Created by Oliver Schamp over 10 years ago