French Online: Use Past Tenses in French like a Native -1

How was your Sunday? To answer this question in French we need to know 2 past tenses. To tell a logic story which describes both your acts and your feelings, you need to know when we use passé composé and when we use imparfait. You will hear a story where both tenses are used. This is a kind of story you will be able to tell in French in the end of this course.

In the second part of the video we will see the first difference between two tenses, the difference in verbal forms.

Get your Exercise file ready, printed or downloaded on your tablet. We will start with the Exercice 1, page 1.

You will hear sentences and check what your hear - passé composé and imparfait.

We will correct this exercice in the end of the video.

Sometimes equivalents in our mother tongue can confuse us to understand the other language grammar.

After this video you will understand the French logic in the choice between 2 past tenses. No matter what tense system is used in your mother tongue.

To clearly express yourself using past tenses in French, you only need to answer 2 questions: what and how.

Exercise file, exercise 2 page 2.

In this exercise you will read a text in present (on your screen or use the attached file), you will rewrite it in the past using the explanation and the example of the previous video. You will find which verbs answer the question "what?" and ones answering the question "how".

After you have completed the Exercise 2, check you answers and follow the instructions for the exercise 3. 

After watching the video take your time and have a look at the pdf attached to this video to be sure you got everything right.

You will learn 3 purposes you use Imparfait for: to describe anything, to speak about recurrent actions and longlasting process.

You will also learn some commun words which are used with the imparfait and help you in your choice of the past tense. 

After the class take your time and have a look at the attached pdf to be sure you got the lesson.

Exercise file, Exercice 4 page 4

You will practice your listening and your writing. Your will hear a story and complete sentences in your Exercice file, with verbs you have heard. Keep in mind that you hear a person speaking at the 1t person (I do...) and the sentences you have to complete are at the 3d person. (she does...).

After you have completed the Exercise 4, check you answers and follow the instructions for the exercise 5.

After watching the video take your time and  have a look at the pdf attached to this video to be sure you got everything right.

You will learn about 4 things you need Passé composé for: to speak about your results and achievements, to indicate the lasting of the action, to speak about surprises and unexpected events and to mention the exact time in the past when the event happened.

This video is followed by the exercise 6.

After watching the video and before proceeding to the exercise 6,  take your time and have a look at the pdf attached to this video to be sure you got everything right.

We will put together everything we have learnt so far and you will proceed to the exercise 7 where you will use both imparfait and passé composé to speak about a journey in France. Choose carefully tenses to speak about actions, events, feelings, descriptions, results and watch the next video to check your results.

After watching the video and before proceeding to the exercise 7,  take your time and have a look at the pdf attached to this video to be sure you got everything right.

After you have completed the Exercise 7, check you answers.

After watching the video take your time and  have a look at the pdf attached to this video to be sure you got everything right.