Lesson - Section 2: Composite Past Tense with avoir + IR + RE verbs, and the Vocabula

[garçoncanadien]

PART 2: PAST TENSE VERBS

Lesson - Section 2: Composite Past Tense with avoir + IR + RE verbs, and the Vocabulary of Time

Hi and welcome back to French Past Tense! The meat of the composite past tense was introduced in the last lesson - that is to say, the nuts and bolts. Thus, this lesson has much less to introduce to you. I simply want to say how to conjugate the IR and RE verb classes in past tense, using the auxiliary verb avoir. However, there are several ways to conjugate the -IR and the -RE verbs, more so than the -ER verbs.

For an -RE verb?

1. If it ends in -IRE, remove the -RE ending and replace with -it.

For example, dire becames j'ai dit.

2. If the word ends in mettre (to put), or prendre (to take), or those two verbs themselves, remove the -ETTRE or -ENDRE and replace with -is.

For example, permettre becomes j'ai permis.
For example, surprendre because j'ai surpris.

3. If the verb ends in vowel + -IRE, -IRE only, or -DRE, replace the vowel + -IRE or -IRE with -u.

All other cases are irregular and must be individually memorized.






For an -IR verb?

1. If the verb ends in vowel + consonant + IR, replace the -IR with -u.

For example, tenir becomes j'ai tenu.

2. If the verb ends in vowel + consonant + consonant + IR, replace the -IR with -i.

For example, servir becomes j'ai servi.

3. If the verb ends in -RIR, replace the -RIR with -ert (except courir!, which becomes couru.).

For example, offrir becomes j'ai offert.

4. And there are 11 very important irregular verbs you must memorize:

<TABLE>
<TR><TD>Infinitif</TD><TD>Participe Passé
</TD></TR><TR><TD>apercevoir -</TD><TD> aperçu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>décevoir -</TD><TD> déçu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>recevoir -</TD><TD> reçu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>pouvoir -</TD><TD> pu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>vouloir -</TD><TD> voulu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>voir -</TD><TD> vu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>savoir -</TD><TD> su
</TD></TR><TR><TD>devoir -</TD><TD> dû
</TD></TR><TR><TD>falloir -</TD><TD> fallu
</TD></TR><TR><TD>pleuvoir -</TD><TD> plu (plaire is conjugated as plu also !!; context will help you distinguish)
</TD></TR><TR><TD>valoir -</TD><TD> valu</TD></TR></TABLE>

All other cases are irregular and must be individually memorized.

And how do you form the past tenses of avoir and être themselves? These both take an irregular participe passé, but take avoir as the auxiliary verb. What do they look like?

J'ai été = I have been (caution; été used as a noun means the summer season - context will help distinguish)
J'ai eu = I have had

These are the two most important examples of irregular conjugations in the French Passé Composé; learn these two first before all other irregular past participles please!!


And that is it for Passé Composé with avoir. Passé Composé with être is coming on the next lesson!






Let's go to time.

Time

The months of the year are:

This image courtesy of RMJ

Janvier
Février
Mars
Avril
Mai
Juin
Juillet
Août
Septembre
Octobre
Novembre
Décembre

The days of the week?

<TABLE CELLSPACING="2"><TR><TD>

Lundi -

</TD><TD>Monday</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Mardi-

</TD><TD>Tuesday</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Mercredi -

</TD><TD>Wednesday</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Jeudi -

</TD><TD>Thursday</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Vendredi -

</TD><TD>Friday</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Samedi -

</TD><TD>Saturday</TD></TR><TR><TD>

Dimanche -

</TD><TD>Sunday</TD></TR></TABLE>

The ways to tell time are very similar to the English way of telling time. We also have these expressions like "quarter t'ill", half past, etc. There is one small difference - in English you would write a colon between the 2 numbers, like 12:30pm. In France, you use the 24 hour clock more frequently than the 12 hour clock and you use an H or h in place of the colon. The h signifies heures in French, or o'clock.

Quelle heure est-il?

11h23: Il est onze heures vingt-trois.

15h45: Il est quatre heures moins le quart (mais quinze heures quarante-cinq).

20h30: Il est vingt heures trente (mais huit heures et demie).

12h00: Il est midi.

0h00: Il est minuit.

It is habit to only say the quarter till and half-past when you are speaking in the 12 hour clock .

Common adverbs in French describing time
hier = yesterday
avant-hier = the day before yesterday
dernière = last
il y a ____ jours = ____ days ago
venir de = used to indicate that something happened very recently. English equivalent? He just ______. NB = despite the fact that this is in the present tense in French, it is used to describe something in the past tense in English. Example sentence:
Je viens de trouver mon cahier.
I just found my notebook.


And that is it for today's lesson! Please send me in a PM your answer's to the following questions .

1. Please tell this time in French: 23h22.
2. Please tell this time in French: 4h45.
3. Please tell this time in French: 13h17.
4. Please tell this time in French: 6h55.
5. Please tell this time in French: 14h45.
6. Please tell this time in French: 7h30.
7. What are the months in French?
8. What are the days of the week in French?
9. Conjugate completely the verb courir, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
10.Conjugate completely the verb courir, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
11.Conjugate completely the verb voir, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
12.Conjugate completely the verb falloir, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
13.Conjugate completely the verb remettre, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
14.Conjugate completely the verb écrire, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
15.Conjugate completely the verb faire, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.
16.Conjugate completely the verb écrire, in the Passé Composé, using avoir as the auxiliary verb.

[Uméesha]

Originally Posted by garçoncanadien

Janvier
Février
Mars
Avril
Mai
Juin
Juillet
Septembre
Octobre
Novembre
Décembre

hey garçoncanadien nice translation, but the above paragraph there is missing something.... The month August is missing..... just correct it.... your lessons are helping me a lot, good , translate more lessons so that moi and our amigo's can learn from u.....

[nurvonic]

thank you very much for your french lessons garcon!!

just keep in mind you're very much appreciated, and i hope you continue your lessons

[O Rly]

Yeah, thanks for the lessons, they're really helpful.

[garçoncanadien]

you are welcome

i wonder why

not so many people like to answer my questions

they are for your benefit

i swear

[Legend Maker]

Originally Posted by garçoncanadien

you are welcome

i wonder why

not so many people like to answer my questions

they are for your benefit

i swear

i can understand your feeling's garcanadien.... but am upto to you, your lessons are good enough to learn.... do your lessons automatically they will come and join to learn french... if they are interested.

[garçoncanadien]

Originally Posted by Umesh

hey garçoncanadien nice translation, but the above paragraph there is missing something.... The month August is missing..... just correct it.... your lessons are helping me a lot, good , translate more lessons so that moi and our amigo's can learn from u.....

ajajaaajaja Simpson says Doh'

I will correct that. Sound to be posted when I come back from vacation this week

SupaKrupa you know this is not directed to you

[SupaKrupa]

I do all of them! Well, I hope I do anyways. I can't remember what I've done and haven't done hehe.

[Uméesha]

hey gargo can u translate this one for me.....

Hola Umesh_spice ! Ya llegan las Pascuas!! Saluda este 8 de Abril a tus seres queridos, enviandoles una postal gratuita de TuPostal.com.

[garçoncanadien]

this question should be directed to our Spanish members because I am only a student of Spanish you see. They can grade my translation

Hi Umesh_spice! Easter has already arrived! Say hi to your loved ones on this 8th of April, and send them a free postcard from TuPostal.com