- IGCSE French Study Resources: The Perfect and Pluperfect tenses. Learn more with grammar resources to help you prepare for your French Exam!
Learning another language at IGCSE can be very rewarding, particularly if you get the chance to use your language skills abroad or in your future career. However, it can be challenging to master the skills that you need to pass your French IGCSE, particularly when it comes to the listening and vocabulary skills that need to be practiced regularly. We at Tutopiya, have put together some grammar study resources which we find would be of use to all students preparing for their French Exam.
Using the perfect tense
The perfect tense is used to talk about something that happened in the past and is completely finished. For example:
- J’ai regardé la télé. – I watched TV.
- Nous avons joué au rugby. – We played rugby.
These are the key elements needed to form the perfect tense:
- The subject – je, tu, il, etc. or a name or a person or thing, eg Sophie/ma mère/mon livre.
- The present tense of avoir or être – this is known as an auxiliary verb.
- The past participle – mangé (ate), fini (finished), attendu(waited), etc.
Use time phrases to give more detail about when the action happened. For example:
- As-tu fait tes devoirs hier ? – Did you do your homework yesterday?
- Ils sont allés en France l’année dernière. – They went to France last year.
| hier | yesterday |
| hier soir | yesterday evening |
| l’année dernière | last year |
| le mois dernier | last month |
| la semaine dernière | last week |
| le weekend dernier | last weekend |
| récemment | recently |
Most verbs use avoir as an auxiliary verb.
These are the key elements needed to form the perfect tense with avoir:
- The subject – je, tu, il, etc. or a name or a person or thing, eg Sophie/ma mère/mon livre.
- The auxiliary verb – the present tense of avoir.
| j’ai | I have |
| tu as | you have |
| il/elle/on a | he/she/it has |
| nous avons | we have |
| vous avez | you have |
| ils/elles ont | they have |
- The past participle – mangé (ate), fini (finished), attendu(waited), etc.
Regular past participles are formed by removing the infinitiveending -er, -ir or -re and adding -é, -i or -u.
| Infinitive ending | Past participle ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -er | -é | manger – to eat / – j’ai mangé – I ate |
| -ir | -i | finir – to finish / nous avons fini – we finished |
| -re | -u | attendre – to wait / ils ont attendu – they waited |
Some common verbs have irregular past participles:
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| avoir – to have | eu – had | J’ai eu de bonnes notes. – I had good grades. |
| boire – to drink | bu – drunk | As-tu bu de l’eau ? – Have you drunk some water? |
| devoir – to have to | dû – had to | Il a dû aller au supermarché. – He had to go to the supermarket. |
| dire – to say | dit – said | Elle a dit: « Bonjour ! » – She said “Hello!” |
| être – to be | été – been | Je n’ai jamais été si content. – I have never been so happy. |
| faire – to do, to make | fait – done, made | Vous avez fait vos devoirs ? – Have you done your homework? |
| prendre – to take, have | pris – taken | Elles ont pris leur petit dejeuner. – They had their breakfast. |
| pouvoir – to be able to | pu – been able to | Ils ont pu aider leur copain. – They were able to help their friend. |
| vivre – to live | vécu -lived | Elles ont vécu en France. – They lived in France. |
| voir – to see | vu – seen | J’ai vu le voleur. – I saw the thief. |
| lire – to read | lu – read | As-tu lu ce roman ? – Have you read this novel? |
| recevoir – to receive | reçu – received | Nous avons reçu beaucoup de cadeaux. – We received lots of presents. |
The perfect tense with être
Forming the perfect tense with être
Some verbs use être as an auxiliary verb. They are usually verbs that involve movement, such as aller (to go), arriver (to arrive), sortir (to go out) and partir (to leave). Reflexive verbs also use être.
The key elements needed to form the perfect tense with être are:
- The subject – je, tu, il, etc, or a name or a person or thing, eg Sophie/ma mère/mon livre.
- The auxiliary verb – the present tense of être.
| je suis | I am |
| tu es | you are |
| il/elle/on est | he/she/it is |
| nous sommes | we are |
| vous êtes | you are |
| ils/elles sont | they are |
- The past participle
Regular past participles are formed by removing the infinitiveending -er, -ir or -re and adding -é, -i or -u.
| Infinitive ending | Past participle ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -er | -é | aller (to go) – je suis allé (I went) |
| -ir | -i | sortir (to go out) – je suis sorti (I went out) |
| -re | -u | descendre (to go down) – il est descendu (he went down) |
Some verbs have irregular past participles:
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| venir – to come | venu | Il est (re)venu chez moi. – He came (back)to my house. |
| mourir – to die | mort | Il est mort en 1985. – He died in 1985. |
| naître – to be born | né | Elle est née au pays de Galles. – She was born in Wales. |
The key difference between avoir verbs and the être verbs is that when using être, the past participle agrees with the subject of the verb, in gender and number:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | – | + s |
| Feminine | + e | + es |
For example:
- Elle est allée à la banque. She went to the bank.
- Ils sont sortis avec leurs copains. – They (masculine, or both masculine and feminine) went out with their friends.
The perfect tense with être
Using the perfect tense with être
The most common verbs that take être can be memorised using the acronym MR VANS TRAMPED:
Monter – to go up / monté – went up
Rester – to stay / resté – stayed
Venir – to come / venu – came
Aller – to go / allé – went
Naître – to be born / né – was born
Sortir – to go out / sorti – went out
Tomber – to fall / tombé – fell
Retourner – to return / retourné – returned
Arriver – to arrive / arrivé – arrived
Mourir – to die / mort – died
Partir – to leave / parti – left
Entrer – to enter / entré – entered
Descendre – to go down / descendu – went down
Reflexive verbs in the perfect tense
Forming the perfect tense of reflexive verbs
Use a reflexive verb to describe an action that you do to yourself, or that ‘reflects back’ to yourself. They must include a reflexive pronoun, which changes depending on who is the subject of the verb. In the perfect tense, all reflexive verbs take the auxiliary verb être and the past participle must agree with the subject of the verb.
Here is an example of a reflexive verb in the perfect tense:
| se laver | to wash (yourself) |
|---|---|
| je me suis lavé(e) | I washed (myself) |
| tu t’es lavé(e) | you washed (yourself) |
| il/elle/on s’est lavé(e)(s) | he/she/one washed (himself/herself/oneself) |
| nous nous sommes lavé(e)s | we washed (ourselves) |
| vous vous êtes lavé(e)(s) | you washed (yourself) |
| ils/elles se sont lavé(e)s | they washed (themselves) |
When using être as an auxiliary verb, the past participle agrees with the subject.
- Elle est allée à la banque. – She went to the bank.
- Ils sont allés à la banque. – They went to the bank.
When using avoir as an auxiliary verb, the past participle never agrees with the subject.
- Elle a mangé une pomme. – She ate an apple.
- Ils ont mangé une pomme. – They ate an apple.
The pluperfect tense
Forming the pluperfect tense
The pluperfect is used to talk about actions further back in the past or events that had happened.
To form the pluperfect tense, use the imperfect tense of avoir or être and a past participle. For example:
- J’avais mangé – I had eaten
- Nous avions fini – We had finished
The same verbs that use être as an auxiliary in the perfect tense, use être (in the imperfect) as an auxiliary in the pluperfect. The past participle must agree with the subject.
- Tu étais allé(e) – You had gone
- Elle était sortie – She had gone out
Using the pluperfect tense
The pluperfect is used to describe something that had happenedbefore another event happened in the past. For example:
- Avant de partir en vacances, j’avais changé de l’argent à la banque.– Before going on holiday, I had changed some money at the bank.
It can be used in reported speech. For example:
- Il m’a dit qu’il était allé en France. – He told me he had been to France.
It is also used in past conditional sentences. For example:
- Si elle avait fait ses devoirs, elle aurait compris la leçon aujourd’hui.– If she had done her homework, she would have understood the lesson today.
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