French Grammar: Verbs that take ÊTRE in Compound Tenses

… Identify: French Grammar: Verbs that take ÊTRE in Compound Tenses la grammaire française: les verbes avec ÊTRE aux temps composés Study: A Compound Tense is a verb form that consists of two parts: (1) the present tense of the auxiliary (or “helper”) verb, followed by (2) the past participle of the main verb (i.e., […]

French Grammar: Reciprocal Reflexive Verbs

Identify: French Grammar: Reciprocal Reflexive Verbs la grammaire française: les verbes réfléchis réciproques Reciprocal Reflexive Verbs in French help us identify actions done by two or more people – to each other! Study: Reciprocal Reflexive Verbs in French help us identify actions done by two or more people – to each other! Reciprocal Reflexive Verbs […]

French Grammar: Infinitive of Reflexive Verbs

Identify: French Grammar: Infinitive of Reflexive Verbs la grammaire française: l’infinitif des verbes réfléchis Reflexive Verbs are a special class of verbs in French. Be sure to review the lesson on Reflexive Verbs first before moving on to this lesson! Whenever reflexive verbs are used in the infinitive with another verb (for example, aimer, aller, […]

French Grammar: Partitive Articles

Identify: French Grammar: Partitive Articles la grammaire française: les articles partitifs You’ll need to learn to use nouns with their correct articles (les articles) if you want to talk about people, places and things! There are three types of articles in French: definite articles (les articles définis), indefinite articles (les articles indéfinis), and partitive articles […]

French Grammar: Passé Composé with Reflexive Verbs

… Identify: French Grammar: Passé Composé with Reflexive Verbs la grammaire française: les verbes réfléchis au Passé Composé Reflexive verbs are used when the subject and object of a verb (action) are the same. The action “reflects back” onto the subject! Study: Reflexive verbs are used when the subject and object of a verb (action) […]

French Grammar: The Past Participle

… Identify: French Grammar: The Past Participle la grammaire française: le participe passé Study: The past participle is the general equivalent of using [-ED] in English. It can be used in a variety of functions including compound tenses and as adjectives with the verb ‘ÊTRE’. To form the past participle for regular verbs, you’ll need to add a new ending to […]

French Grammar: Reflexive Verbs

Identify: French Grammar: Reflexive Verbs la grammaire française: les verbes réfléchis Reflexive verbs are used when the subject and object of a verb (action) are the same. The action “reflects back” onto the subject! Study: Reflexive verbs are used when the subject and object of a verb (action) are the same. The action “reflects back” […]

French Grammar: The Present Continuous – [ÊTRE EN TRAIN DE] + Infinitive

… Identify: French Grammar: The Present Continuous – [ÊTRE EN TRAIN DE] + Infinitive la grammaire française: le présent continu – [être en train de] + l’infinitif In English, we use the Present Progressive tense to talk about actions that are occurring at this moment in time.  The marker for this in English is a […]

French Grammar: The Recent Past with [VENIR DE] + Infinitive

… Identify: French Grammar: The Recent Past with [VENIR DE] + Infinitive la grammaire française: le passé récent avec [venir de] + l’infinitif VENIR is an irregular verb that normally means “to come”.  However, VENIR is also a very handy verb when we want to talk about actions that have (or had) taken place in […]

French Grammar: Irregular Verbs – Basics

Identify: French Grammar: Irregular Verbs – Basics la grammaire française: verbes irreguliers – les essentiels Verbs are used to communicate actions. They DO things! If you plan on doing anything in French, you’ll need to learn how verbs work! When we conjugate all kinds of verbs, they are usually identified as regular or irregular verbs. […]