Des auteurs francophones : perfect tense with 'être' | French

Starter quiz

Identify the auxiliary verb in the following sentence: 'Mes soeurs ont acheté un livre au marché.'

soeurs

ont ✓

acheté

livre

marché
Match these English words to the correct French translations.

directly

⇔

directement ✓

treatment

⇔

le traitement ✓

opening

⇔

l'ouverture ✓

fact

⇔

le fait ✓

traditional

⇔

traditionnel ✓

reading

⇔

la lecture ✓
Match the beginning parts of 'faire' (to do, to make) in the perfect tense to the correct ending parts.

j'

⇔

ai fait ✓

tu

⇔

as fait ✓

il, elle, on

⇔

a fait ✓

nous

⇔

avons fait ✓

vous

⇔

avez fait ✓

ils, elles

⇔

ont fait ✓
Identify the verbs which use 'être' as the auxiliary verb in the perfect tense.

venir ✓

naître ✓

faire

avoir

retourner ✓
Select the irregular past participles from this list.

vendu

eu ✓

bu ✓

visité

choisi
'Apprendre' (to learn) and 'comprendre' (to understand) follow which verb's pattern to form the past participle?

'prendre' ✓

Exit quiz

Which Sound Symbol Correspondences (SSCs) are present when pronouncing regular past participles?

[u], [ou], [a], [SFC], [SFe]

[i], [u], [ou], [on], [SFC], [SFe]

[i], [u], [é], [SFC], [SFe] ✓
What prize did the novel 'Frère d'âme' receive in 2021?

The Pulitzer Prize

The Booker Prize

The International Booker Prize ✓
Which country did David Diop spend time in as a child?

'Senegal' ✓
Match these English verbs to the correct French translations.

to stay

⇔

rester ✓

to come back, to return

⇔

revenir ✓

to go down

⇔

descendre ✓

to become

⇔

devenir ✓

to leave

⇔

partir ✓

to fall

⇔

tomber ✓
Match the subjects to the correct past participles of 'sortir' (to go out).

Jacob et Aisha

⇔

sont sortis. ✓

Aisha

⇔

est sortie. ✓

Jacob

⇔

est sorti. ✓

Jacob et Alex

⇔

sont sortis. ✓

Aisha et Lauren

⇔

sont sorties. ✓
Verbs expressing a change of ______, place or condition often use 'être' as the auxiliary verb in the perfect tense.

'state' ✓

Worksheet

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Verbs which express a change of state, place or condition often use 'être' as the auxiliary verb in the perfect tense.
Past participles used with 'être' must agree in gender and number with the subject of the verb.
[i] like 'midi', [u] like 'tu' and [é/ez/er] like 'écrire', SFC and SFE are common endings to past participles.

Common misconception

Verbs never change their spelling to agree for gender or number.

Past participles with 'être' verbs do agree for gender and number. Embedding this knowledge requires practice, a component of which can be practice of sound-symbol correspondences [i], [u], [é], [SFC], and [SFE].

Keywords

Auxiliary verb - a form of either 'avoir' or 'être' used to form the perfect tense
Past participle agreement - when the ending of a past participle matches the subject of the verb in gender and number