French Grammar: The Passé Simple (Historic Past Tense) – Regular Verbs

… Identify: French Grammar: The Passé Simple (Historic Past Tense) – Regular Verbs la grammaire française : le passé simple – les verbes réguliers When speaking about the past in English, you choose which past tense to use depending on the context and the meaning you wish to convey. In French sentences, you choose which past tense to use depending […]

French Grammar: The Past Anterior

… Identify: French Grammar: The Past Anterior la grammaire française: le passé antérieur Study: The Past Anterior (le passé antérieur) is a Perfect tense.  Perfect tenses are also known as compound tenses. They use a conjugated auxiliary verb (either AVOIR or ÊTRE) combined with the past participle of the main verb. The Past Anterior is a rather formal tense and is […]

French Grammar: The Past Conditional

… Identify: French Grammar: The Past Conditional la grammaire française: le conditionnel passé Study: The Past Conditional (le conditionnel passé) is also known as the Conditional Perfect. It is a Perfect tense.  Perfect tenses are also known as compound tenses. They use a conjugated auxiliary verb (either AVOIR or ÊTRE) combined with the past participle of the main verb. The Past Conditional is […]

French Grammar: The Future Perfect

… Identify: French Grammar: The Future Perfect la grammaire française: le futur antérieur Study: Perfect tenses are also known as compound tenses. They use a conjugated auxiliary verb (either AVOIR or ÊTRE) combined with the past participle of the main verb. The Future Perfect (le futur antérieur) is f0rmed with the future tense (le futur) form of the auxiliary verb (AVOIR […]

French Grammar: The Past Perfect (Pluperfect)

… Identify: French Grammar: The Past Perfect (Pluperfect) la grammaire française: le plus-que-parfait Study: Perfect tenses are also known as compound tenses. They use a conjugated auxiliary verb (either AVOIR or ÊTRE) combined with the past participle of the main verb. The Past Perfect – also called the Pluperfect (le plus-que-parfait) – is f0rmed with the imperative tense (l’imparfait) form of the […]

French Grammar: Compound Tenses – Basics

… Identify: French Grammar: Compound Tenses – Basics la grammaire française: les temps composés – introduction Study: French verb conjugations fall into one of two categories: either Simple tenses or Compound tenses. Simple tenses have only one verb (e.g., je parle) and compound tenses have two verbs – a conjugated auxiliary (helper) verb + the […]

French Grammar: Expressing Duration of Time

… Identify: French Grammar: Expressing Duration of Time la grammaire française: combien de temps? Study: When talking about activities and events in French, it’s helpful to know how to express how long ago or for how long those activities and events took, are taking, or will take place. There are different considerations to keep in […]

French Grammar: Superlatives

… Identify: French Grammar: Superlatives la grammaire française: le superlatif Study: In French, as in English, Superlatives (le superlatif) are similar to comparatives. Superlatives are used when we single someone or something out as the most or the least from among a group. In English, this is often denoted by the adjective ending -est. Superlatives are important to understand in conversations and in reading French. […]

French Grammar: Comparisons of Quantity

… Identify: French Grammar: Comparisons of Quantity la grammaire française: le comparatif de quantité Review: French Grammar: Comparatives – Basics Study: Comparisons of Quantity are used to compare the quantities of two different nouns / kinds of nouns. Make sure not to confuse them with Comparisons of Equality or Comparisons of Inequality.. Actually, though, comparisons of quantities include types […]

French Grammar: Comparisons of Inequality

… Identify: French Grammar: Comparisons of Inequality la grammaire française: le comparatif d’inégalité Review: French Grammar: Comparatives – Basics Study: Comparisons of Inequality are used to show how two or more people or things have more or less of a characteristic when compared to each other. Make sure not to confuse them with Comparisons of Equality or Comparisons of […]