03/02/06 Miss Cranie

Theperfect tense

Theperfect tense

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

• The perfect tense is one of the tenses used to talk about actions that took place and were completed in the past.

• The equivalent in English is the form I have finished but we can also say I finished

• The perfect tense in French is made up of 2 different parts.

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

FormationFormation

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

1. The present tensepresent tense of the verb avoir (meaning to have)

2. A part of the verb called the past participlepast participle, like given, finished and done.

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

present tense of avoirpresent tense of avoir

J’ ai

Tu as

Il/Elle/On a

Nous avons

Vous avez

Ils/Elles ont

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

Forming past participlespast participles

-er verbs

Take off - -er

Then add +

-é

Example Parler →Parlé

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

Forming past participlespast participles

-ir verbs

Take off - -ir

Then add +

-i

Example Finir →Fini

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

Forming past participlespast participles

-re verbs

Take off - -re

Then add +

-u

Example Vendre→Vendu

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

Forming past participles.

-er verbs -ir verbs -re verbs

Take off: -er -ir -re

and add: -é -i -u

Example: parler - parlé

finir - fini

vendre - vendu

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

Examples

Examples

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

Lets look at some examples:

a) J’ai acheté.• Nous avons lavé la vaisselle.a) Mathilde a fini ses devoirs.b) Ils ont puni leur chien.c) Vous avez entendu la musique?d) Elle a vendu sa bicyclette.

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

The perfect tense (avoir)

Some irregular verbs• These verbs must be learned off by

heart!

• Je reçois £10. (recevoir)– J’ai reçu £10.

• Je fais la vaisselle. (faire)– J’ai fait la vaisselle.

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

Exceptions to the rule

• There are some important verbs such as aller (to go) which use the present tense of être as the helper verb.Singular  

Je suisTu es

Il/Elle/On est

Plural  

Nous sommesVous êtes

Ils/Elles sont

•When we use être as the helper verb the past participle ending must agree. E.g. il est allé, elle est allée

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

03/02/06 Miss Cranie

http://www.quia.com/cb/25938.html

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/French/PerfectTense/Perfect2.htm

http://www.quia.com/rr/93547.html

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/French/PerfectTense/Perfect1.htm