Using the past tense Step One: er verbs

You need a marker board. Write down all of the subjects (Je, Tu, etc.)

NextNext Write down the forms of Avoir that go along with each subject (if you dont know them, look at someones grammar sheet).

The Official Rule Making things past

We know how to say a lot of things in French. to be to go to have to do/make to know (2 ways) To be able to To have to To want To finish To pay

But how do you use the past? Lets start with step one: -er verbs.

First things first The past tense (or you can call it the passé composé) is made up of two verbs put back to back. Remember when we did this before? Je vais étudier (I am going to study) Jaime skier (I like to ski)

Heres How this works First, You need a version of avoir (to have). Avoir looks like: Jai Nous avons Tu as Vous avez Il a Ils ont Elle a Elles ont

In case we need a reminder of this verb: s

So, when making something past, always put avoir down. Lets use the example of making étudier past, or saying I studied. First, you need an I, that is Je Next, put down the form of avoir that goes with Je that would be Jai.

Youve written out I have. That has nothing to do with studying!! How do you make it I have studied? Heres a good grammatical word: a past participle (un participe passé) is what you need. All this means is the word that goes after the avoir. For -er verbs, all you need to do is change the -er to an é to make this past participle. jouer - joué regarder - regardé passer - passé

So, all that we are doing today is making -er verbs past Lets practice making past participles (try these): trouveraimerétudier

Past Participles Trouver - trouvé aimer - aimé étudier - étudié

Putting this all together. Getting back to our example I studied We said that I was Je and to study was étudier First step in making it past: put in a form of avoir. That, we said,was Jai Now, we need a past participle. We look at étudier, chop off the -er and make it a é. Put this after the Jai to create Jai étudié

A few good examples If I wanted to make Je parle past, it would be Jai parlé. If I wanted to make Tu aimes past, it would be Tu as aimé. If I wanted to make Nous détestons past, it would be Nous avons détesté.

So now, lets try and say a few things in the past. Restate in the past (in your notes) Je mange Il frappe Nous regardons