This page focuses primarily on grammatical structures and content. For revision of the vocabulary covered in class across our various units, students are encouraged to visit Quizlet - where vocabulary lists from each and every one of our units are kept. There are a range of different lists and activities on there for students to interact with - all students have signed onto Quizlet and have their own username and password.
LE PRÉSENT
The present verb tense is extremely important in French as knowledge of the present tense is required to form the past and future tenses. Below you will find a range of online resources and worksheets to help you improve your understanding of the all-important present tense. Online resourcesAll the links below are taken from a great online verb conjugation site called conjuguemos.com that allows students to choose the verbs they want to target and the time they'll spend practising. It also gives instant feedback to students and is sure to improve verb conjugations over time with regular practise.
* To practise regular 'er' verbs, click here. * To practise regular 'ir' verbs, click here. * To practise irregular 'ir' verbs, click here. * To practise irregular verbs, (select which ones from the list), click here. * To practise reflexive verbs, click here. * To practise all present-tense verbs together, click here. |
WorksheetsThe following worksheets all target different aspects of the present tense as well as some vocabulary that is expected knowledge for Phase 2 students. Feel free to complete them and bring them into class for correction and feedback.
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LE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ
Le passé composé is used in French to talk about one-time, finished actions in the past. It requires the following structure:
Pronom/Sujet + Verbe auxiliaire (être/avoir) + Participe passé
So, to say 'I swam' in French, we would say 'j'ai nagé'. 'She finished' would become 'elle a fini'.
The only 'new' information here is the 'participe passé' as we know 'être' and 'avoir' from the present tense. Generally, we form the participe passé in the following way:
'Er' verbs - drop the 'er' and add 'é'. E.g. - 'nager' would become 'nagé'
'Ir' verbs - drop the 'r' off the end of the verb. E.g. - 'finir' would become 'fini'
For the verbs that use 'être' as an auxiliary verb, there are two additional steps we need to consider:
1) We need to add an 'e' to the participe passé if the subject is feminine.
2) We need to add an 's' to the participe passé if the subject is plural
There are a range of verbs whose participe passé is irregular and they need to be revised and learnt.
Pronom/Sujet + Verbe auxiliaire (être/avoir) + Participe passé
So, to say 'I swam' in French, we would say 'j'ai nagé'. 'She finished' would become 'elle a fini'.
The only 'new' information here is the 'participe passé' as we know 'être' and 'avoir' from the present tense. Generally, we form the participe passé in the following way:
'Er' verbs - drop the 'er' and add 'é'. E.g. - 'nager' would become 'nagé'
'Ir' verbs - drop the 'r' off the end of the verb. E.g. - 'finir' would become 'fini'
For the verbs that use 'être' as an auxiliary verb, there are two additional steps we need to consider:
1) We need to add an 'e' to the participe passé if the subject is feminine.
2) We need to add an 's' to the participe passé if the subject is plural
There are a range of verbs whose participe passé is irregular and they need to be revised and learnt.
Online resourcesThere's a wide range of websites that allow you to practise the passé composé online, the following have been taken from conjuguemos.com and allow you to pick and choose which verbs you'd like to practise and how long you'd like to practise for:
* To practise 'avoir' verbs, click here. * To practise 'être' verbs, click here. * To practise reflexive verbs, click here. * To practise all verbs together, click here. The français façile website has a comprehensive list of the verbs whose participe passé is irregular. To view the list and complete some practise exercises, click here. |
WorksheetsThe following document gives you a visual representation of the verbs that use 'être' as their auxiliary verb:
The following two documents are quizzes on the passé composé to be done without looking at notes to gauge your understanding of the passé composé. You can self-correct or bring your paper into M.Favre and go through it together.
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L'IMPARFAIT
L'imparfait is another past tense, but is different to the passé composé because it is used to describe past habits or ongoing/repeated actions in the past. The imparfait is used to express sentences like "We used to go to the beach" - "Nous allions à la plage" or "She was watching a movie" - "Elle regardait un film".
To form the imparfait, you need to start with the present tense 'nous' form of the verb in question. So, for the verb 'finir', that would be 'finissons'. Then we remove the 'ons' and we are left with 'finiss' - this is how we get the verb stem for the imparfait.
The verb endings as well as the only irregular verb 'être' are explained in the diagram. But in a nutshell, this is how you form the imparfait to talk about pas habits or repeating/ongoing actions:
Pronom/sujet + La forme 'nous' du verbe au présent (sans le -ons) + La terminaison de l'imparfait
To form the imparfait, you need to start with the present tense 'nous' form of the verb in question. So, for the verb 'finir', that would be 'finissons'. Then we remove the 'ons' and we are left with 'finiss' - this is how we get the verb stem for the imparfait.
The verb endings as well as the only irregular verb 'être' are explained in the diagram. But in a nutshell, this is how you form the imparfait to talk about pas habits or repeating/ongoing actions:
Pronom/sujet + La forme 'nous' du verbe au présent (sans le -ons) + La terminaison de l'imparfait
Online resourcesLingolia has some good online exercises on the imparfait that give you instant feedback.
Conjuguemos is always a winner for instant feedback and short, focused exercises and practise. Tolearnfrench.com also has a good simple practise text. |
Worksheets
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LE FUTUR PROCHE
If ever there was an 'easy' verb tense in French, le futur proche is it. The futur proche is used to express 'going to' in the future. It simply follows the structure outlined in the diagram to the right. Basically, if you know how to conjugate the verb 'aller' in the present tense, you know how to form the futur proche.
So "I'm going to eat" would become "Je vais manger".
The best thing about it? There are no irregular verbs or exceptions to remember.
The structure is:
Pronom/sujet + Conjugaison du verbe 'aller' au présent + L'infinitif du verbe
So "I'm going to eat" would become "Je vais manger".
The best thing about it? There are no irregular verbs or exceptions to remember.
The structure is:
Pronom/sujet + Conjugaison du verbe 'aller' au présent + L'infinitif du verbe
Online resourcesA good online resource for the futur proche comes through the françaisfaçile.com website:
For an alternative description of how the futur proche works and some practise activities, click here. |
WorksheetsHere are a couple of worksheets taken from the web with an Astérix theme that you can use to practise the futur proche with.
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LE FUTUR SIMPLE
The Futur Simple is another future tense used to express more definite future actions or "will" in French. Its formation is generally quite simple, you simply take the infinitive of the verb ending in 'r' and then add the required futur simple ending as indicated in the diagram below left.
So, "I will eat" in French, would become "je mangerai".
There are, however some irregular verbs in the futur simple whose stem changes - a starting list of some of the most common of these is given in the diagram below on the right.
So, "I will eat" in French, would become "je mangerai".
There are, however some irregular verbs in the futur simple whose stem changes - a starting list of some of the most common of these is given in the diagram below on the right.
Online ResourcesA really good site for practising le futur simple is lingolia - feel free to try their other exercises too!
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Worksheets
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