Language/French/Grammar/The-past

The Past Tenses in French

The past tense (le passé) is used to describe actions that have already happened in the past. In French, there are several different past tenses, including the passé composé, the imparfait, the passé simple, and the plus-que-parfait.

The passé composé

The passé composé is formed by using the auxiliary verb avoir or être in the present tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb. The choice of auxiliary verb depends on the verb itself, as some verbs require être instead of avoir. Here is a conjugation table for the passé composé of the regular -ER verb parler (to speak):

Subject Pronoun	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle	Verb Form
j'ai	avoir	parlé	j'ai parlé
tu as	avoir	parlé	tu as parlé
il/elle/on a	avoir	parlé	il/elle/on a parlé
nous avons	avoir	parlé	nous avons parlé
vous avez	avoir	parlé	vous avez parlé
ils/elles ont	avoir	parlé	ils/elles ont parlé

And here is a similar table for the regular -IR verb finir (to finish):

Subject Pronoun	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle	Verb Form
j'ai	avoir	fini	j'ai fini
tu as	avoir	fini	tu as fini
il/elle/on a	avoir	fini	il/elle/on a fini
nous avons	avoir	fini	nous avons fini
vous avez	avoir	fini	vous avez fini
ils/elles ont	avoir	fini	ils/elles ont fini

And finally, a table for the regular -RE verb vendre (to sell):

Subject Pronoun	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle	Verb Form
j'ai	avoir	vendu	j'ai vendu
tu as	avoir	vendu	tu as vendu
il/elle/on a	avoir	vendu	il/elle/on a vendu
nous avons	avoir	vendu	nous avons vendu
vous avez	avoir	vendu	vous avez vendu
ils/elles ont	avoir	vendu	ils/elles ont vendu

Keep in mind that there are many irregular verbs in the passé composé, which means they do not follow the regular avoir or être + past participle pattern. Some examples of irregular verbs in the passé composé include être (to be), avoir (to have), aller (to go), and faire (to do/make).

Here are some examples of sentences in the passé composé:

• J'ai parlé avec mon ami hier soir. (I spoke with my friend last night.)
• Tu as fini tes devoirs avant de sortir. (You finished your homework before going out.)
• Il a vendu sa maison l'année dernière. (He sold his house last year.)
• Nous avons voyagé en Europe l'été dernier. (We traveled in Europe last summer.)
  • Vous avez pris un café ce matin? (Did you have a coffee this morning?)
  • Elles ont été surprises par la nouvelle. (They were surprised by the news.)

In addition to the passé composé, there are three other common past tenses in French: the imparfait, the passé simple, and the plus-que-parfait. Each of these past tenses has its own specific uses.

Imparfait

The imparfait is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past. It is formed by taking the present tense stem of the verb and adding the appropriate imparfait endings. Here is a conjugation table for the imparfait of the regular -ER verb parler (to speak):

Subject Pronoun	Verb Stem	Ending	Verb Form
je	parl-	-ais	je parlais
tu	parl-	-ais	tu parlais
il/elle/on	parl-	-ait	il/elle/on parlait
nous	parl-	-ions	nous parlions
vous	parl-	-iez	vous parliez
ils/elles	parl-	-aient	ils/elles parlaient

And here is a similar table for the regular -IR verb finir (to finish):

Subject Pronoun	Verb Stem	Ending	Verb Form
je	finiss-	-ais	je finissais
tu	finiss-	-ais	tu finissais
il/elle/on	finiss-	-ait	il/elle/on finissait
nous	finiss-	-ions	nous finissions
vous	finiss-	-iez	vous finissiez
ils/elles	finiss-	-aient	ils/elles finissaient

And finally, a table for the regular -RE verb vendre (to sell):

Subject Pronoun	Verb Stem	Ending	Verb Form
je	vend-	-ais	je vendais
tu	vend-	-ais	tu vendais
il/elle/on	vend-	-ait	il/elle/on vendait
nous	vend-	-ions	nous vendions
vous	vend-	-iez	vous vendiez
ils/elles	vend-	-aient	ils/elles vendaient

Here are some examples of sentences in the imparfait:

• Je parlais souvent avec mon ami. (I used to speak often with my friend.)
• Tu finissais tes devoirs avant de jouer. (You used to finish your homework before playing.)
• Il vendait des fruits au marché. (He used to sell fruits at the market.)
• Nous voyagions en train tous les étés. (We used to travel by train every summer.)
• Vous preniez un café chaque matin. (You used to have a coffee every morning.)
• Elles étaient toujours en retard. (They were always late.)

Passé simple

The passé simple is used in written French to describe a completed action that took place in the past. It is formed differently for each verb group and often has irregular conjugations. Here is a conjugation table for the passé simple of the regular -

ER verb parler (to speak):

Subject Pronoun	Verb Form
je	parlai
tu	parlas
il/elle/on	parla
nous	parlâmes
vous	parlâtes
ils/elles	parlèrent

And here is a similar table for the regular -IR verb finir (to finish):

Subject Pronoun	Verb Form
je	finis
tu	finis
il/elle/on	finit
nous	finîmes
vous	finîtes
ils/elles	finirent

And finally, a table for the regular -RE verb vendre (to sell):

Subject Pronoun	Verb Form
je	vendis
tu	vendis
il/elle/on	vendit
nous	vendîmes
vous	vendîtes
ils/elles	vendirent

Keep in mind that the passé simple is less commonly used in spoken French and is mostly used in literature, journalism, and historical writing.

Here are some examples of sentences in the passé simple:

• Je parlai avec mon ami hier soir. (I spoke with my friend last night.)
• Tu finis tes devoirs avant de sortir. (You finished your homework before going out.)
• Il vendit sa maison l'année dernière. (He sold his house last year.)
• Nous voyagèrent en Europe l'été dernier. (We traveled in Europe last summer.)
• Vous priâtes pour un café? (Did you ask for a coffee?)
• Elles furent surprises par la nouvelle. (They were surprised by the news.)

Plus-que-parfait

The plus-que-parfait is used to describe an action that occurred before another past action. It is formed by using the auxiliary verb avoir or être in the imparfait tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb. Here is a conjugation table for the plus-que-parfait of the regular -ER verb parler (to speak):

Subject Pronoun	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle	Verb Form
j'avais	avoir	parlé	j'avais parlé
tu avais	avoir	parlé	tu avais parlé
il/elle/on avait	avoir	parlé	il/elle/on avait parlé
nous avions	avoir	parlé	nous avions parlé
vous aviez	avoir	parlé	vous aviez parlé
ils/elles avaient	avoir	parlé	ils/elles avaient parlé

And here is a similar table for the regular -IR verb finir (to finish):

Subject Pronoun	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle	Verb Form
j'avais	avoir	fini	j'avais fini
tu avais	avoir	fini	tu avais fini
il/elle/on avait	avoir	fini	il/elle/on avait fini
nous avions	avoir	fini	nous avions fini
vous aviez	avoir	fini	vous aviez fini
ils/elles avaient	avoir	fini	ils/elles avaient fini

And finally, a table for the regular -RE verb vendre (to sell):

Subject Pronoun	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle	Verb Form
j'avais	avoir	vendu	j'avais vendu
tu avais	avoir	vendu	tu avais vendu
il/elle/on avait	avoir	vendu	il/elle/on avait vendu
nous avions	avoir	vendu	nous avions vendu
vous aviez	avoir	vendu	vous aviez vendu
ils/elles avaient	avoir	vendu	ils/elles avaient vendu

Here are some examples of sentences in the plus-que-parfait:

• J'avais parlé avec mon ami avant de partir. (I had spoken with my friend before leaving.)
• Tu avais fini tes devoirs avant que je rentre à la maison. (You had finished your homework before I came back home.)
• Il avait vendu sa maison avant de partir à l'étranger. (He had sold his house before leaving abroad.)
• Nous avions voyagé en Europe avant de commencer nos études. (We had traveled in Europe before starting our studies.)
• Vous aviez pris un café avant la réunion. (You had had a coffee before the meeting.)
• Elles avaient été surprises par la nouvelle avant que je leur en parle. (They had been surprised by the news before I told them.)

In summary, there are several different forms of the past tense in French, each with its own specific uses. The passé composé is the most commonly used past tense and is formed by using the auxiliary verb avoir or être in the present tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb. The imparfait is used to describe ongoing or repeated actions in the past and is formed by taking the present tense stem of the verb and adding the appropriate imparfait endings. The passé simple is used in written French to describe a completed action that took place in the past and has irregular conjugations. The plus-que-parfait is used to describe an action that occurred before another past action and is formed by using the auxiliary verb avoir or être in the imparfait tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb.

Table of Contents

Nouns

• Types
• Gender
• Plural

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Determiners

• Articles
• Typical use of the definite article
• Typical use of the indefinite article
• The partitive article: du, de l', de la, des
• Use of indefinite and partitive articles after the negative forms ne... pas, ne... jamais, ne... plus, ne... guère
• Omission of the article
• Demonstrative determiners
• Possessive determiners

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Personal and impersonal pronouns

• Subject pronouns
• Object pronouns
• Stressed pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns

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Adjectives

• Adjectives modifying the noun
• Adjectives which follow verbs or verbal expressions
• Adjectives with complements
• Indefinite and negative noun phrases with adjective complements
• Adjectives used as nouns
• Adjectives used as adverbs
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives
• Plural forms of adjectives
• Adjective agreement with nouns
• Invariable adjectives
• Compound adjectives
• Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives
• Subjunctive versus indicative in clauses dependent on a superlative adjective
• Absolute use of the superlative

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Adverbs

• Function of adverbs
• Formation of adverbs with the ending -ment
• Adjectives used as adverbs without addition of -ment
• Phrases used as adverbs
• English and French adverb formation
• Types of adverbs
• Location of adverbs

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Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers

• Cardinal numbers
• Ordinal numbers
• Fractions
• Some differences in the use of cardinal and ordinal numbers in French and English
• Measurements and comparisons
• Dates, days, years
• Clock time
• Money
• Quantifiers

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Verb forms

• Conjugations
• Easy ways of generating some parts of the paradigms
• Changes in the stem form of some -er conjugation verbs
• Verbs whose stems end in c- or g-
• Verb paradigms

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Verb constructions

• Relations between verbs and their complements
• Intransitive constructions
• Directly transitive verbs
• Indirectly transitive verbs
• Ditransitive verbs
• The passive
• Pronominal verbs
• Impersonal verbs
• Verbs which take noun + adjective or noun + noun complements

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Verb and participle agreement

• Subject-verb agreement
• Agreement of the past participle with the subject of être
• Agreement of the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir with a preceding direct object
• Agreement of the past participle of pronominal verbs in compound tenses

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Tense

• The present
• The past
• The future
• Other tenses indicating the time at which events occur relative to other events
• Combining tenses
• Tenses in direct and reported descriptions of events
• Tenses with si

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The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives

• The attitude of the subject to events: the subjunctive
• The use of devoir, pouvoir, savoir, falloir
• The French equivalents of the English modal verbs: 'would', 'should', 'could', 'may', 'might', 'ought to', and 'must'
• Exclamatives
• Imperatives

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The infinitive

• Introduction: what are infinitives?
• Infinitives as complements to other verbs
• Verbs which take infinitive complements without a linking preposition
• Verbs which take infinitive complements preceded by the preposition à
• Verbs which take an infinitive complement preceded by de
• Omission of objects before infinitives
• Infinitives as complements to adjectives
• Infinitives as complements to nouns
• Infinitives in subordinate clauses
• Infinitives as polite commands
• Quick-reference index to verbs taking infinitive complements

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Prepositions

• Introduction
• Prepositions listed alphabetically from à to vers
• French translations for common English prepositions

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Question formation

• Introduction
• Yes/no questions
• Information questions
• Order of object pronouns in questions involving inversion
• Order of negative particles in questions involving inversion
• Use of question words and phrases: qui?, que?, quoi?, quel?, de qui?, avec combien de? etc.
• Indirect questions

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Relative clauses

• Introduction
• Use of relative qui
• Use of relative que
• Preposition plus qui
• Use of lequel in relative clauses
• Use of dont, de qui, duquel/de laquelle/desquels/desquelles
• The use of où as a relative pronoun
• Use of relative quoi
• Free relative clauses and the use of ce qui, ce que, ce dont, ce à quoi, ce sur quoi, etc.
• Translating 'whoever', 'whatever', 'wherever', 'whenever', 'however'
• Indicative and subjunctive in relative clauses

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Negation

• Introduction
• Location of sentence negators
• Order of negators in multiple negation
• Omission of ne in sentence negation
• Order of negative elements in questions and imperatives
• ne... pas
• ne... que
• ne... aucun(e), ne... nul(le)
• ne... jamais
• ne... plus
• ne... guère
• ne... rien
• ne... personne
• ne... ni... ni
• sans used with other negators
• ne used alone

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Conjunctions and other linking constructions

• Introduction
• Coordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions
• Conjunctions sometimes confused by English speakers
• Repeated subordinating conjunctions
• Subordinating conjunctions used with infinitive clauses
• après avoir/ être + past participle linking an infinitive clause to a main clause
• Past participle phrases used as linkers
• Present participles and gerunds

Other Lessons

• Formation of the passive in French
• Use of the neutral pronoun le
• An adjective agreeing with nouns linked by et, ou or ni
• Direct Object Pronoun
• Masculine and feminine forms of adjectives — A change in the final consonant or syllable
• Indefinite article
• Reflexive and reciprocal verbs
• Past Tense
• Quantifiers — tout and chaque
• Pronouns