Download Les Temps Verbaux de Français II

Le présent, le passé composé,
l’imparfait, l’impératif, le futur
simple, et le conditionnel.
N’oubliez pas le présent!
The present tense is formed by adding particular
endings to the STEM of a verb (the stem is the
part of the verb that never changes).
There are many irregular verbs in the present
tense that do not follow a pre-set pattern,
including these important ones:
être, avoir, faire, aller, venir, vouloir, pouvoir,
mettre, prendre, sortir, partir, dormir, servir,
lire, dire, écrire,
 Remove
the –ER and add:
 (PARLER : Stem = parl-)
• -e
• -es
• -e
• -ons
• -ez
• -ent
(je parle)
(tu parles)
(il/elle parle)
(nous parlons)
(vous parlez)
(ils/elles parlent)
 Remove
the –IR and add:
• (FINIR – stem: FIN-)
• -is
• -is
• -it
• -issons
• -issez
• -issent
(je finis)
(tu finis)
(il/elle finit)
(nous finissons)
(vous finissez)
(ils/elles finissent)
 Remove
the –RE and add:
 (ATTENDRE – stem: attend-)
• -s
• -s
• • -ons
• -ez
• -ent
(j’attends)
(tu attends)
(il/elle attend)
(nous attendons)
(vous attendez)
(ils/elles attendent)
 The
passé composé is used to talk about
a one-time event in the past (as opposed
to l’imparfait, which is used to talk about
ongoing past events)
 It is formed with a helping verb (avoir or
être) and a past participle.
• Most verbs take ‘avoir’. But some…reflexives and
transitives (DRMRSVANDERTRAMPP) take ‘être’
 To
form a regular past participle, take off the
ending of the infinitive and add a special
ending:
• -ER verbs: Take off –ER and add ‘é’
• -IR verbs: Take off –IR and add ‘I’
• -RE verbs: Take off –RE and add ‘U’
• “Je parle” = “J’ai parlé” in the passé composé.
• “Il finit” = “Il a fini.” in the passé composé.
• “Nous attendons.” = “Nous avons attendu.” in the
passé composé.

Some verbs have irregular past participles. In other words,
you should have these memorized:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Avoir = eu
Être = été
Faire = fait
Pouvoir = pu
Vouloir = voulu
Devoir = Dû
Mettre = mis
Promettre = promis
Comprendre = compris
Croire = cru
Voir = vu
Venir = Venu
Devenir = Devenu
Revenir = Revenu
 Some
verbs take Être in the passé
composé.When this is the case, the past
participle must agree with the subject.
 Verbs
that take Être can be remembered
using the acronym
DRMRSVANDERTRAMPP and keeping in
mind that they all have to do with coming
and going (though, not all verbs that have
to do with coming and going take être)
 Devenir
 Revenir
 Monter
 Retourner
 Sortir
 Venir
 Aller
 Naître
 Descendre
Entrer
Rester
Tomber
Rentrer
Arriver
Mourir
Partir
Passer (par)
 Reflexive
verbs also take être and must
agree with the subject.
 They
only agree if the verb is not following
by a direct object (a body part)
 E.G.
• “Elles se brossent.” = “Elles se sont brossées” in the
passé composé. (Agreement)
• “Elles se brossent les dents” = “Elles se sont brossé
les dents” in the passé composé. (No agreement
because followed by a body part.
 The
imperfect is a verb tense used to talk
about ongoing past action – describing
how things were or used to be in the past.
 This
is used often in story-telling.
E.G.
Martine regardait Dora beaucoup quand
elle était petite.
 The
formation of the imperfect is
somewhat simple: You take the present
tense ‘nous’ form of the verb, drop the
‘ons’ and add the following endings:
-ais
(je disais)
-ais
(tu disais)
-ait
(il disait)
-ions
(nous disions)
-iez
(vous disiez)
-aient
(ils disaient)
 The
imperative isn’t really a verb tense as
much as it is a way to make commands – it is
outside of time.
 When you want to give a command, you use
the ‘tu’, ‘vous’, or ‘nous’ form depending on
if you’re telling somebody else to do
something or saying ‘Let’s’ do something.
 The major change is that –ER verbs drop the
–s in the ‘tu’ form of commands.
• E.G. “Regarde le match.” is the command of “Tu
regardes le match.”
 Remember
that pronouns will follow the
verb in commands:
 If you have more than one pronoun in a
command: le, la, les come before lui, leur
which come before moi, toi, nous, and vous
• Thus, “Regarde le match” becomes “Regarde-le.”
when you want the pronoun instead of the noun.
• If you wanted to use pronouns in the command
“Donne-moi les devoirs.”, it would read “Donne-les
moi.”
 To
say what you will do, take the infinitive
of the verb, and add the following
endings:
• -ai
• -as
• -a
• -ons
• -ez
• -ent
 To
say what you would do, take the
infinitive of the verb and add the
following endings:
• -ais
• -ais
• -ait
• -ions
• -iez
• -aient

Some verbs don’t take the infinitive as the stem. Instead, they
have a special stem. Please memorize this list:

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Être = serFaire = ferAller = irAvoir = aurSavoir = saurVoir = verrEnvoyer = enverrPouvoir = pourrDevoir = devrRecevoir = recevrVouloir = voudrVenir = viendrFalloir = faudr-