French tenses are represented by the present, future and past tenses, only in French, unlike Russian, there are several forms of their expression. The past tense in French is expressed by Passé Composé tense, Passé Simple tense, Plus-que-parfait tense, Passé Antérieur tense, Imparfait tense, Passé immédiat tense.

Passe Compose, that is, the past compound completed tense, which is used to indicate an action that has already ended in a certain period of time, is formed by adding the past participle to the auxiliary verb avoir (to have) or être (to be), conjugated in Indicatif Présent. For example: D'où leur est venu cela? - where did they get it from? Tu n'as pas pu arriver jusqu'à chez lui il y a cinq jours - you couldn't get to him five days ago. The past participle of the first group is formed by adding the ending -é to the stem of the semantic verb. For example: Tu es resté au bord de la mer encore trois mois - you rested on the seashore for another three months. The past participle of the second group is formed by adding to the stem the semantic verb of the ending - i. For example: Il a rougi comme un gamin - he blushed like a boy. It should also be noted that in the case of conjugation with the verb être of the verbs of the first and second groups, their participles must agree with the noun that is the subject of this sentence in gender and number. For example: Elle est sortie du théâtre - She left the theater. Elles sont sorties du cinéma - They (female) left the cinema. Since the verbs of the third group are irregular verbs, there is no clear and definite rule for their formation. The participles of these verbs can be found in any dictionary or reference book, which are then strongly recommended to be learned.

Passe Simple, the past simple completed tense, which is used to express an action already completed in a certain period of time, which, like Passé Composé, is used to indicate an action already completed in a certain period of time, but unlike it, not related to the present, is formed by adding to the basis of proper endings. The verbs of the first group in the Passé Simple are conjugated by adding the following endings to the stem: je n'écoutai pas les conseils - I didn't listen to the advice tu n'écoutas pas les conseils - you didn't listen to the advice il n'écouta pas les conseils - he didn't listened to advice nous n'écoutâmes pas les conseils - we didn't listen to advice vous n'écoutâtes pas les conseils - you didn't listen to advice ils n'écoutèrent pas les conseils - they didn't listen to advice. The verbs of the second group in the Passé Simple are conjugated by attaching the following endings to the stem: je réfléchis à une question - I thought about the question tu réfléchis à une question - you thought about the question il réfléchit à une question - he thought about the question nous réfléchîmes à une question - we thought about question vous réfléchîtes à une question - you have considered the question ils réfléchirent à une question - they have considered the question. No specific conjugation rules apply to the verbs of the third group, therefore the conjugations of this past tense group in French must be memorized. This time is used mainly in literary speech, namely, in works of a classical nature, and is practically not used in oral speech, recently it has most often been replaced by Passé Composé.

Concerning Plus-que-parfait, the long past compound, which is used to indicate an action that happened before some other past action, it is formed by adding to the auxiliary verb, and these are the verbs avoir or être in Imparfait, the past participle. For example: Le maître avait déjà pris le voleur quand la police est arrivée. The owner had already caught the thief when the police arrived.

Also represented by time Passe Anterieur. Passé Antérieur, the past compound tense, which is used to indicate an action preceding another action in the past, but unlike Plus-que-parfait is used after certain conjunctions, is formed by adding to an auxiliary verb, namely, the verb avoir or être, conjugated in Passé Simple, past participles. This time is used after conjunctions such as à peine que - barely ..., like ..., as soon as ...; quand - when, aussitôt que - as soon as, après que - after, dès que - as soon as, lorsque - when.

Imparfait, the past simple unfinished tense, which is used to express an incomplete, continuous action taking place in the past, if neither the beginning nor the end of the action is determined, is formed by adding the following endings to the verb in the first person plural in the present tense: je prenais par ruse - I took by cunning tu prenais par ruse - you took by cunning il prenait par ruse - he took by cunning nous prenions par ruse - we took by cunning vous preniez par ruse - you took by cunning ils prenaient par ruse - they took by cunning.

Passé immediat, the immediate past, is formed by adding the preposition de and the infinitive of the corresponding verb to the conjugation of the verb venir in the present tense. This tense is used to express an action that has just taken place or an action that has taken place recently. Its characteristic feature is the use of the adverb just now, for example: Je viens de partir - I just left.

When studying French, we encounter difficulties in the formation of tense verbs. However, it is also important to understand their usage. Let's figure it out.

The simplest French tense is Indicatif Présent Actif. It is used:

When an action is performed at the moment of speaking - J'ecris mon article.
. when it comes to truly established facts - La Terre est ronde.
. to express everyday actions - Ma mère cuisine pour mon père.
. to express the future tense, when the action is no longer questioned - Je pars demain.
. to express an action in the past - in colloquial speech, when the story is lively and relaxed - Et je prends mon frère et je vais chez mon ami ...
Things are more difficult with past tenses, which have no analogue in Russian. When studying the group of past tenses in French, one should distinguish and clearly understand the difference between Passé Composé and Imparfait:

French verb tenses - Imparfait:
- expresses the past unfinished action. The action is unlimited by any time frame. - Je travaillais beaucoup.
- The action is incomplete. - Je pensais beaucoup. I thought a lot.
Passe Compose:
- action in the past is limited in time (often such markers as tout le jour, pendant six heures, etc. are used) - J'ai travaillé tout le jour.
- The action is completed. - J'ai achete le cadeau.
These are the main differences between Passé Composé and Imparfait. In addition, Imparfait is used in the following cases:
- When an action describes a state in the past - J'étais content de te voir.
- When a repetitive action is described - J'allais à l'ecole chaque jour.
However, do not forget about controversial cases on which you can pierce. So, for example, with the marker "souvent" we will use Passé Composé, since "often" means a limited number of times. And with "hier" Imparfait can also be used depending on the context:
Quand j "étais jeune, j'ai souvent fait du sport.
Hier il faisait froid.
Hier j'ai achete mon cadeau.

French verb tenses. Plus-que-parfait also belongs to the French past tense group. The present tense expresses an action that precedes an action in the past.
Il a lu trois pages et compris qu'il n'avait pas fait attention à ce qu'il lisait.

Passé and Futur Immédiat express an action that has just been done or that will be done in the very near future.

Passé Immédiat: Je viens d'arriver. - I just came.
Futur Immediat: Je vais sortir maintenant. - I'm leaving now.

Futur Simple expresses an action similar to the future tense of the Russian language.
Je partirai pour mes vacances le 9 juin.

There is also another past tense, Passé Simple, which, however, is rarely used in modern language. This tense describes the actions of the distant past, often found in fiction.

French verb tenses. Formation of temporary forms.
By education, the tenses of the French verb are divided into simple and compound. Simple tenses are formed by changing the form of the semantic verb, while the formation of compound tenses requires an auxiliary verb. So, let's start in order. The key to French verbs lies in knowing the present tense forms (Indicatif Présent Actif) of these verbs.

The formation of the present tense forms varies depending on the group of the verb. Pay attention to the table of formation of Indicatif Présent Actif forms for all three groups:

Group I Group II Group III
je mange je remplis je courses
tu manges tu remplis tu courses
il mange il remplit il court
nous mangeons nous remplissons nous courons
vous mangez vous remplissez vous courez
ils mangent ils remplissent ils current

Thus, knowing the forms of the simple present tense of French verbs, we can easily form Indicatif Imparfait, Passé Composé, as well as Passé and Futur Immédiat. To do this, we only need the end of the given time, which we need to remember.

Passe Compose
To form the Passé Composé, we need to know the present form of the auxiliary verbs avoir and être, as well as the Participe Passé of the main semantic verb. Thus, Passé Composé = avoir/être in Présent + Participe Passé of the semantic verb.

Imparfait
To form Imparfait, you need to take the stem of the verb in Indicatif Présent in the first person plural and add the endings -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.
Thus, for the verb of the second group remplir we get:
je remplysais
tu remplysais
il remplisait
nous replissions
vous remplissiez
ils remplissaient

Plus-que-parfait
Knowing the temporary form of Imparfait, it will be easy for us to form Plus-que-parfait:
Imparfait of the verbs avoir/être + Participe Passé of the semantic verb

Future
To form Futur Simple, you need to take the stem of the infinitive and add the endings -ai, -as, -a, -ons, -ez, -ont. So for the verb of the first group manger, the conjugation in Futur Simple will be as follows:
je mangerai
tu mangeras
il mangera
nous mangerons
vous mangerez
ils mangeront

Passe Immediat
The verb venir in Présent + de + the infinitive of the main semantic verb

Futur Immediat
The verb aller in Présent + the infinitive of the main semantic verb.

We are glad to welcome all lovers of the French language on our website! Today we will talk about the past tense of French verbs. What is the past tense? This is a tense that indicates an action in the past.

The fact is that in French there are several types of the past tense. And although not all of them are used in oral speech and, sometimes, the French themselves make mistakes in this matter, however, in writing it is very important to use tenses correctly.

Le Passé Composé we use most often

It really is, friends. If we don’t know how to correctly coordinate tenses in a sentence, what kind of past tense to use in order to make the sentence grammatically correct, Passé Composé comes to the rescue. – past compound (compound) tense . The French themselves do not always agree on tenses, especially in oral speech. And in order to save time, I put the verbs in Passé Composé if the action took place in the past, and went on.

Le Passé Composé means a completed action and is formed with the present tense verb Avoir + participe passé of the conjugated verb. Each group of verbs has its own ending in participe passé (past participle): 1st group - é; 2nd group - i; well, and the 3rd group - there are capricious verbs, each has its own ending. So let's conjugate the verbs!

All verbs in Passé Composé conjugate with Avoir, but there are 12 verbs (along with their derivatives) that conjugate with Etre:

• naître (p. p. né) - to be born,
• aller (p. p. alle) - to go,
• venir (p. p. venu) - to come,
• entrer (p. p. entré) - to enter,
• monter (p. p. monté) - to rise,
• rester (p. p. resté) - to stay,

• descendre (p. p. descendu) - descend,
• sortir(p. p. sorti) - exit,
• partir (p. p. parti) - to leave,
• arriver (p. p. arrivé) - to arrive,
• tomber (p. p. tombé) - to fall,
• mourir (p. p. mort) - to die.

All reflexive verbs also conjugate with the verb Etre.

To conjugate the verbs "to have" and "to be" in Passé Composé, you need to know their participe passé: Avoir - eu and Etre - été.

Le Passé Simple - what you need in a letter

Passé Simple is the simple past tense and denotes a completed action. But it's not as simple as its name suggests. Here you need to know the forms and endings of verbs for their conjugation in a given tense. The Passé Simple is never used in speech, and always in writing when it comes to past actions. It is formed like this: the stem of the verb + the endings necessary for each group. In this table, the endings are highlighted:

Avoir/Etre:
J'eus/fus
Tu eus/fus
Il/elle eut/foot
Nous eymes/fûmes
Vous eûtes/fûtes
Ils/elles eurent/furent

L'Imparfait - if the action is not completed

L'Imparfait is perhaps one of the easiest French verb tenses. There are always stable endings for any group, the main thing is to correctly identify the stem of the verb. L'Imparfait indicates an incomplete action in the past tense and corresponds to the imperfect form of verbs in Russian.

Je parl ais , finissais, mettais
Tu parl ais , finissais, mettais
Il/elle parl ait , finissait, mettait
nous parl ions , finissions, mettions
vous parl iez finissiez, mettiez
Ils/elles parl aient finissaient, mettaient

Avoir/Etre:
J'avais/etais
Tu avais/etais
Il/elle avait/était
Nous avions/étions
Vous aviez/etiez
Ils/elles avaient/étaient

Le Passé Antérieur - Past Immediate Tense

This tricky time is not used in oral speech, but only in writing. You need to use it only after certain unions:

• quand - when
• lorsque - when
• après que - after
• dès que - as soon as
• aussitôt que - as soon as
• sitôt que - as soon as
• à peine que - barely.

The verbs in Passé Antérieur are conjugated with the verb Avoir and Etre (the same 12 verbs, see above) in Passé Simple + participe passé of the conjugated verb:

j' eus parle nous eymes parle
tu eus parle vous eytes parle
il/elle eut parle ils/elles eurent parle

je fus alle nous families alle

tu fus alle vous fûtes alle

il/elle feet alle ils/elles furent alle

Example: Dès que Jean eut lu cette nouvelle, il s'y intéressa. - As soon as Jean read this news, he became interested in it.

Le Passé Immédiat - you have just taken an action

From the name it is clear that this past tense indicates that the action has just taken place. We conjugate the verbs in Passé Immédiat with the verb Venir + de + the infinitive of the verb:

Je viens de faire
Tu viens de faire
Il/elle vient de faire
nous venons de faire
Vous venez de faire
Ils/elles viennent de faire

Le Passé Surcomposé and Le Plus-que-Parfait

These two tenses play an important role in coordinating tenses in a sentence, but we will talk about this in our next lessons. The schema of Passé Surcomposé is: Avoir (Etre) in Passé Composé + participe passé of the verb.

J'ai eu parle

J'ai ete entre

The Plus-que-Parfait scheme is: Avoir (Etre) in I ;pqrfqit + participe passé of the verb.

Javais parle

J'etais entre

If you are still new to French, then you should not plunge headlong into the use of each tense, the reasons, etc. yet. To begin with, learn to conjugate verbs, do not be afraid to make mistakes, through mistakes knowledge comes to us.

As you can see, friends, there are a lot of past tenses in French. Visually, with examples, we will consider all this in the article on the coordination of times. For now, you can practice conjugation of verbs, learn endings. We wish you success!

To select past tense - passé composeorimparfait, ask a question and determine what action is in question - about completed (“What did you do?”) or incomplete (“What did you do?”).

In the first case, when stating the completed action, it is unambiguously chosen passé compose.

In the second case, the Russian imperfect past tense can be translated into French as passé compose, andimparfait:

1. a) Hier, j'etais malade (state description), il a plustoute la journee . - Yesterday I was sick, it rained all day.

b) Hier, il pleuvait (description), j'ai ete maladetoute la journee (limited amount of time). - It rained yesterday, I was sick all day.

Please note that the word "hier" - "yesterday" is not a passé composé marker, i.e. after it, imparfait can also be placed.

2. a) Quand j'ai habité à Paris (limited amount of time - only while I lived in Paris), je visitaischaque semaine un musee (repetitive action in the past). - When I lived in Paris, I went to the museum every week.

b) Quand j'habitais a Paris (repetitive action, or description without specifying a time limit), j'aisouvent visite des museums ("often" - means a limited number of times). - When I lived (had been) in Paris, I often visited museums.

3. a) Il faisait trop chaud (long term description), je n'ai pas pu dormir(statement of fact). - It was very hot, I couldn't sleep.

b) Il a fait trop chaud (statement of fact - exactly at the moment when I was trying to sleep), je ne pouvais pas dormir (description). - It was very hot, I couldn't sleep.

Use

Imparfait– past incomplete tense (in Russian most often corresponds to the past tense of imperfective verbs, i.e. answers the question “what did you do?”). Serves for

1) expressions unfinished action in the past:

Je vous telephonais. - I called you.

2) expressions ordinary, recurring past actions:

Quand j'etais petit, je jouais toujours avec mes sœurs. - When I was little, I always played with my sisters.

3) descriptions in the past time:

il etait trois heures. Il n'y available personne dans les rues. La plusie tombait. - It was three o'clock. There was no one on the streets. It was raining.

4) expressions hypotheses V conditional clause(after si) usually paired with conditionnel present:

Si j' etais riche, je voyagerais à l'étranger. - If I were rich, I would travel abroad.

5) expressions polite request:

Je voulais vous demander une chose. - I wanted to ask you something.

6) expressions proposals to make smth. in an interrogative sentence after si:

Si nous prenions du café? - Shall we have some coffee?

Education

It is formed from the basis of the verb in the 1st person plural of the present tense and the following endings: - ais-ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient.

Group 3 verbs in imparfait

This time is formed according to the rule: the desired ending is added to the stem of the verb in 1 liter. pl. hours of the present. The only thing exception- verb être, whose basis for the formation of imparfait - et-:

Spelling

Pay attention to the spelling some verbs in imparfait:

1) verbs in -ger

For verbs ending in -ger, endings that begin in -a or -o are preceded by the letter -e:

je mang e ais, but: nous mangions

2) verbs in -cer

For verbs ending in -cer, before the endings that begin in -a or -o, the letter "ç" is put instead of the letter "c":

je commen ç ais, but: nous commencions

3) verbs ending in -yer

Do not be confused by the forms of these verbs for “we” and “you”, in which the letters “y” and “i” stand at the junction:

nous pa yi ons, vous pa yi ez

4) verbs in -ier

In the same forms for "we" and "you" do not forget to write two "i" (one from the base, the second from the ending):

nous etud ii ons, vous etud ii ez

Use

In Russian, it most often corresponds to the past tense of perfective verbs, i.e. answers the question "What did you do?".

However, sometimes past imperfective verbs can also be translated into French in this tense, if in the sentence

1) indicated completed period of time during which this action took place (for example, the sentence contains the words longtemps, toute la nuit, 3 heures, 3 jours, etc.) - Nous avons discuté cette nouvelle toute la soirée. We have been discussing this news all evening..

2) emphasized action result, not the process of its flow. Avez vous lu ce livre? - Have you read this book? (Meaning - "read", i.e. you know its content).

1. Tu (ouvrir) la porte.
a) viens d'ouvrir
b) viens ouvrir
c) vient d'ouvrir

2. Un ami d'Arthur (écrire) une lettre à sa mère.
a) va ecrire
b) vient d'ecrire
c) vient ecrire

3. Je (lire) ce roman.
a) vient de lire
b) vais de lire
c) viens de lire

4. Monsieur et Madame Blanc (donner) ce livre a mon frere.
a) viennent de donner
b) vient de donner
c) viennent de donnent

5. Nous (chanter) cette chanson.
a) venons de chanter
b) venons de chantons
c) venons chanter

6. Vous (allumer) la tele.
a) venez d'allumez
b) venez d'allumer
c) venez allumer

2. Futur simple

1. Je (parler) a mes copains demain.
a) parlerai
b) parlera
c) parleras
d) parleriai

2. Tu (choisir) cette image parce qu’elle est belle.
a) choisirai
b) choisiras
c) choice
d) choose

3. Vous (dessiner) un bouquet de roses rouges.
a) dessinerons
b) dessineras
c) dessinerez
d) desiner

4. Nous (manger) de la glace pour le dîner.
a) mangerez
b) mangerons
c) mangeons
d) mangeras

5. Irène (regarder) la télé pendant 3 heures.
a) regarderai
b) regarderas
c) regarde
d) regardera

6.Andre et Michel (travailler) beaucoup.
a) travaillerons
b) travailleront
c) travaillent
d) travaront

7. Tu (savoir) parler et lire en français.
a) Sauras
b) Savoiras
c) saurai
d) sourez

8. Demain, j'(avoir) cinq leçons.
a) avoirai
b) aurai
c) auras
d) aura

9. Vendredi, il (être) à la campagne.
a) seray
b) extra
c) sera
d) serons

10. Bientôt, nous (aller) au village.
a) allerons
b) irons
c)ira
d) iras

11. Vous (venir) a l'école à 10 heures.
a) venirez
b) viendrez
c) viendront
d) viendrai

12. Elles (vouloir) se promener avec nous.
a) voudront
b) voudrez
c) voudra
d) voudront

3.Impaired

1. Pendant les grandes vacances je (lire) beaucoup.
a) Lirai
b) Liais
c) Lisais
d) lisaient

2. Qu'est-ce que tu (faire) chez tes amis?
a) faisais
b) faisait
c) fairais
d) Faisaient

3. Parfois nous (aller) à la bibliothèque.
a) irons
b) alliez
c) allons
d) allion

4. Souvent, vous (venir) chez nous.
a) Venez
b) Veniez
c) viendrez
d) venniez

5. Le soir tes parents (vouloir) écouter la musique.
a) voulaient
b) vouloir
c) willing
d) voulions

6. Chaque matin, Christine (prendre) du café.
a) prenais
b) prenat
c) prendait
d) prenaient

7. Elles (ouvrir) les fenêtres.
a) ouvrent
b) ouvraient
c) ouvrez

8. Vous (se promener) chaque jour.
a) vous promenez b) se promeniez
c) vous promenerez
d) vous promeniez

9. Nous (être) tres paresseux.
a) etraient
b) etiez
c) étions
d) etaient

10. Hugo (aller) à la campagne chaque semaine.
a) allait
b) allerait
c) allais
d) allaient

4. Passé Compose

1. Cécile (prendre) son panier. Elle (aller) au marché. Son petit frère Lucien (rester) à la maison. Il (trouver) son cahier a dessin. Il (chercher) ses crayons de couleur. Mais où sont-ils? Lucien (courier) vers la table pour prendre les feutres de Cécile. Mais il (glisser) sur le plancher et il (tomber). Lucien (pleurer).

2. Cécile (acheter) des fraises et des cerises. Elle (rentrer) à la maison. Elle (ouvrir) la porte, Elle (entrer) dans la chamber. Et elle (voir) Lucien qui pleure. Elle (demander): ,Pourquoi est-ce que tu pleures,mon petit?, Lucien (répondre): ,Je (tomber)! Cécile (dire): , Ne pleure pas, Lucien! Voici de belles fraises pour toi., Elle (mettre) l'assiette avec des fraises sur la table. Lucien (manger) les fraises avec appetit. Cécile lui (lire) une drôle d'histoire. Lucien (écouter) avec plaisir. Il (rire).

5. Determine the tense of the verb

1. Le spectacle finit a 11 heures.
a) passé compose
b) present
c) future

2. J'ai oublié son adresse.
a) passé compose
b) passé immediat
c) present

3. Ces enfants se promenaient souvent dans le jardin.
a) passé compose
b) present
c) imparfait

4. Nous venons d'entrer dans l'appartement.
a) future immediat
b) passé immediat
c) passé compose

5. Vous allez voir des bâtiments modernes.
a) future immediat
b) passé immediat
c) passé compose

6. Tu partiras à quelle heure?
a) present
b) future simple
c) imparfait

6. Passé simple

Identify the sentences in which the Passé simple is used.

1. Je choisis cette robe et la mets.
2. Ils s'arrêtèrent devant les vitrines du magasin.
3. Il choisit cette ville et y alla.
4. Ilécrivit ce roman aux années 60.
5. Je pars pour Moscou.
6. Bien sûr, je pense à mes parents quand je voyage.
7. Elle fit ce travail il y a 3 ans.
8. Ils donnerent des fleurs aux soldats.
9. Il construisit cette cathedrale en 18 siècle

7. Plus-que-parfait

1. Je suis monté dans un train qui (arriver) a 5 heures.
a) est arrive
b) a arrive
c) etait arrive

2. Tu n'as pas trouvé un feutre que j'(cacher).
a) ai cache
b) suis cache
c) avais cache

3. Nous avons apporte des journaux que nous (prendre).
a) avions prize
b) avons prize
c) étions pris

4. Thomas et Luc ont fait le travail que vous (ne faire pas).
a) n'aviez pas fait
b) n'avez pas fait
c) n'êtes pas fait

5. Vous avez envoye une lettre que j'(écrire).
a) ai écrit
b) avais écrit
c) suis écrit

6. Il m'a dit que le professeur (être) en retard.
a) avait ete
b) aete
c)ete