The article title is IGCSE French Study Resources: The Perfect and Pluperfect tenses Learning another language at IGCSE can be very rewarding, particularly if you get the chance to use your language skills abroad or in your future career. However, it can be challenging to master the skills that you need to pass your French IGCSE, particularly when it comes to the listening and vocabulary skills that need to be practiced regularly. We at Tutopiya, have put together some grammar study resources which we find would be of use to all students preparing for their French Exam.
Using the perfect tense
The perfect tense is used to talk about something that happened in the past and is completely finished. For example:
J’ai regardé la télé. - I watched TV.
Nous avons joué au rugby. - We played rugby.
These are the key elements needed to form the perfect tense:
The subject - je, tu, il, etc. or a name or a person or thing, eg Sophie/ma mère/mon livre.
The present tense of avoir or être – this is known as an auxiliary verb.
The past participle - mangé (ate), fini (finished), attendu(waited), etc.
Use time phrases to give more detail about when the action happened. For example:
As-tu fait tes devoirs hier ? - Did you do your homework yesterday?
Ils sont allés en France l’année dernière. - They went to France last year.
hier
yesterday
hier soir
yesterday evening
l’année dernière
last year
le mois dernier
last month
la semaine dernière
last week
le weekend dernier
last weekend
récemment
recently
Most verbs use avoir as an auxiliary verb.
These are the key elements needed to form the perfect tense with avoir:
The subject - je, tu, il, etc. or a name or a person or thing, eg Sophie/ma mère/mon livre.
The auxiliary verb - the present tense of avoir.
j’ai
I have
tu as
you have
il/elle/on a
he/she/it has
nous avons
we have
vous avez
you have
ils/elles ont
they have
The past participle - mangé (ate), fini (finished), attendu(waited), etc.
Regular past participles are formed by removing the infinitiveending -er, -ir or -re and adding -é, -i or -u.
Infinitive ending
Past participle ending
Example
-er
-é
manger - to eat / – j’ai mangé - I ate
-ir
-i
finir - to finish / nous avons fini - we finished
-re
-u
attendre - to wait / ils ont attendu - they waited
Some common verbs have irregular past participles:
Infinitive
Past participle
Example
avoir - to have
eu - had
J’ai eu de bonnes notes. - I had good grades.
boire - to drink
bu - drunk
As-tu bu de l’eau ? – Have you drunk some water?
devoir - to have to
dû - had to
Il a dû aller au supermarché. - He had to go to the supermarket.
dire - to say
dit - said
Elle a dit: « Bonjour ! » - She said “Hello!”
être - to be
été - been
Je n’ai jamais été si content. – I have never been so happy.
faire - to do, to make
fait - done, made
Vous avez fait vos devoirs ? - Have you done your homework?
prendre - to take, have
pris - taken
Elles ont pris leur petit dejeuner. – They had their breakfast.
pouvoir - to be able to
pu - been able to
Ils ont pu aider leur copain. - They were able to help their friend.
vivre - to live
vécu -lived
Elles ont vécu en France. – They lived in France.
voir - to see
vu - seen
J’ai vu le voleur. – I saw the thief.
lire - to read
lu - read
As-tu lu ce roman ? - Have you read this novel?
recevoir - to receive
reçu - received
Nous avons reçu beaucoup de cadeaux. - We received lots of presents.
The perfect tense with être
Forming the perfect tense with être
Some verbs use être as an auxiliary verb. They are usually verbs that involve movement, such as aller (to go), arriver (to arrive), sortir (to go out) and partir (to leave). Reflexive verbs also use être.
The key elements needed to form the perfect tense with être are:
The subject - je, tu, il, etc, or a name or a person or thing, eg Sophie/ma mère/mon livre.
The auxiliary verb - the present tense of être.
je suis
I am
tu es
you are
il/elle/on est
he/she/it is
nous sommes
we are
vous êtes
you are
ils/elles sont
they are
The past participle
Regular past participles are formed by removing the infinitiveending -er, -ir or -re and adding -é, -i or -u.
Infinitive ending
Past participle ending
Example
-er
-é
aller (to go) – je suis allé (I went)
-ir
-i
sortir (to go out) – je suis sorti (I went out)
-re
-u
descendre (to go down) – il est descendu (he went down)
Some verbs have irregular past participles:
Infinitive
Past participle
Example
venir - to come
venu
Il est (re)venu chez moi. – He came (back)to my house.
mourir - to die
mort
Il est mort en 1985. – He died in 1985.
naître - to be born
né
Elle est née au pays de Galles. – She was born in Wales.
The key difference between avoir verbs and the être verbs is that when using être, the past participle agrees with the subject of the verb, in gender and number:
Singular
Plural
Masculine
-
+ s
Feminine
+ e
+ es
For example:
Elle est allée à la banque. She went to the bank.
Ils sont sortis avec leurs copains. – They (masculine, or both masculine and feminine) went out with their friends.
The perfect tense with être
Using the perfect tense with être
The most common verbs that take être can be memorised using the acronym MR VANS TRAMPED:
Monter – to go up / monté - went up
Rester - to stay / resté - stayed
Venir - to come / venu - came
Aller - to go / allé - went
Naître - to be born / né - was born
Sortir - to go out / sorti - went out
Tomber - to fall / tombé - fell
Retourner - to return / retourné - returned
Arriver - to arrive / arrivé - arrived
Mourir - to die / mort - died
Partir - to leave / parti - left
Entrer - to enter / entré - entered
Descendre - to go down / descendu - went down
Reflexive verbs in the perfect tense
Forming the perfect tense of reflexive verbs
Use a reflexive verb to describe an action that you do to yourself, or that ‘reflects back’ to yourself. They must include a reflexive pronoun, which changes depending on who is the subject of the verb. In the perfect tense, all reflexive verbs take the auxiliary verb être and the past participle must agree with the subject of the verb.
Here is an example of a reflexive verb in the perfect tense:
se laver
to wash (yourself)
je me suis lavé(e)
I washed (myself)
tu t’es lavé(e)
you washed (yourself)
il/elle/on s’est lavé(e)(s)
he/she/one washed (himself/herself/oneself)
nous nous sommes lavé(e)s
we washed (ourselves)
vous vous êtes lavé(e)(s)
you washed (yourself)
ils/elles se sont lavé(e)s
they washed (themselves)
When using être as an auxiliary verb, the past participle agrees with the subject.
Elle est allée à la banque. - She went to the bank.
Ils sont allés à la banque. - They went to the bank.
When using avoir as an auxiliary verb, the past participle never agrees with the subject.
Elle a mangé une pomme. - She ate an apple.
Ils ont mangé une pomme. - They ate an apple.
The pluperfect tense
Forming the pluperfect tense
The pluperfect is used to talk about actions further back in the past or events that had happened.
To form the pluperfect tense, use the imperfect tense of avoir or être and a past participle. For example:
J’avais mangé – I had eaten
Nous avions fini – We had finished
The same verbs that use être as an auxiliary in the perfect tense, use être (in the imperfect) as an auxiliary in the pluperfect. The past participle must agree with the subject.
Tu étais allé(e) – You had gone
Elle était sortie – She had gone out
Using the pluperfect tense
The pluperfect is used to describe something that had happenedbefore another event happened in the past. For example:
Avant de partir en vacances, j’avais changé de l’argent à la banque.– Before going on holiday, I had changed some money at the bank.
It can be used in reported speech. For example:
Il m’a dit qu’il était allé en France. – He told me he had been to France.
It is also used in past conditional sentences. For example:
Si elle avait fait ses devoirs, elle aurait compris la leçon aujourd’hui.– If she had done her homework, she would have understood the lesson today.
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