Qui a gagné ? Yes/no questions in the perfect tense | French

Starter quiz

Questions in French can be formed by using 'est-ce que', inversion and ______.

'intonation' ✓
What is the past participle of 'faire' (to do, to make)?

'fait' ✓
Put the words below in the correct order to form the following sentence in French: 'I don't want to go to the museum.'

1

⇔

je

2

⇔

ne

3

⇔

veux

4

⇔

pas

5

⇔

aller

6

⇔

au

7

⇔

musée
Complete the following translation: 'Je ne joue jamais au hockey - I ______ play hockey.'

'never' ✓
Match the French words below to the correct English translations.

le corps

⇔

body ✓

le doigt

⇔

finger ✓

le dos

⇔

back ✓

la jambe

⇔

leg ✓

la main

⇔

hand ✓

le pied

⇔

foot ✓
Match the French words below to the correct English translations.

la colère

⇔

anger ✓

la présentation

⇔

presentation ✓

plaire

⇔

to please, pleasing ✓

l'arme

⇔

weapon, arms ✓

l'humanité

⇔

humanity ✓

la souffrance

⇔

suffering ✓

Exit quiz

True or false? Yes/no questions are formed differently in the perfect tense to the present tense.

True

False ✓
True or false? 'Nous n'avons joué pas au tennis' is grammatically correct.

True

False ✓
Sort the words below into the correct order to translate the following sentence: 'You have never been to America'.

1

⇔

tu

2

⇔

n'

3

⇔

est

4

⇔

jamais

5

⇔

allé

6

⇔

aux

7

⇔

États-Unis
How do you say 'among' in French?

parmi ✓

pourtant

la plupart

la position

probablement
Match the English words below to the correct French translations.

way, manner

⇔

une façon ✓

to go to bed, going to bed

⇔

se coucher ✓

despite, in spite of

⇔

malgré ✓

to realise, to achieve

⇔

réaliser ✓

to fight, fighting

⇔

se battre ✓

to stop

⇔

arrêter de ✓
What letter is commonly used in inversion questions in the perfect tense to help pronunciation?

't' ✓

Worksheet

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Yes/no questions in the past tense are formed by inversion, asking 'est-ce que' or using intonation, as in the present.
To negate in the perfect tense, put 'ne' and 'pas/jamais' around the auxiliary verb (part of 'avoir' or 'être').
T-liaison is common in inversion questions in the perfect tense, e.g., 'A-t-il gagné ?'. This eases pronunciation.
When transcribing, it's important to think about liaison and where one word ends and another begins.

Common misconception

The second element of the negative structure goes after the past participle when forming past tense phrases.

The second element of the negative structure is always placed after the auxiliary verb and before the past participle. This requires practice as students are likely to misapply the negative structure learned with present tense.

Keywords

Inversion - when the subject pronoun and verb switch place to form a question
Negation - two elements, e.g., 'ne … pas', around the main verb expressing negative meaning
T-liaison - the pronounced -t- between the subject pronoun and verb in perfect tense inversion questions