Grammar: expressions with “avoir”
Many common French expressions make use of the verb “avoir,” but are not translated with the English verb “to have,” which would normally be a direct translation of “avoir.”
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Grammar: Compounds & Homologues
Many irregular French verbs are used in compound form to make new verbs with new meanings. The compound versions follow the same conjugation method as the original verb. Homologues are verbs that resemble the original verb in spelling and are conjugated in the same basic way. venir to come s’abstenir to abstain advenir to happen…
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Grammar: Irregular verbs
Here are the 19 most important irregular verbs to know in French. They are important because they are very frequently used. They are also important to know because many exist in compound form (eg, venir is used in the compound forms revenir, devenir, prévenir, provenir, convenir, survenir and advenir, among others). Since these 19 verbs…
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Grammar: Irregular past participles
Here is a list of French verbs with irregular past participles, presented in alphabetical order: These verbs have irregular past participles, meaning that they do not follow the regular pattern of adding -é for -er verbs, -i for -ir verbs, and -u for -re verbs. Memorizing these irregular past participles will greatly assist you in…
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Grammar: Plus-Que-Parfait
Understanding the French Plus-Que-Parfait Verb Tense: Actions in the Past Before Another Past Action In French grammar, there’s a tense called the plus-que-parfait that helps us talk about actions that happened before another past action. It adds depth to our storytelling and gives a clearer picture of the sequence of events. “Plus-que-parfait” literally means “more…
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Grammar: Possessive Adjectives
French possessive adjectives are used to describe to whom something or someone belongs. Their English equivalents are words like “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “its,” “our,” and “their.” They replace articles They are used instead of an article. Articles are words like “un,” “une,” “le,” “la,” “l’” (l + apostrophe), “de,” “du,” “de la,” “de l’” (de…
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Grammar: Passé Composé reflexive
Reflexive verbs (called “verbes pronominaux” in French) are always conjugated with être in the Passé Composé. Se réveiller Meaning je me suis réveillé I woke up, have woken up tu t’es réveillé you woke up, have woken up il s’est réveillé he woke up, has woken up nous nous sommes réveillés we woke up, have…
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Grammar: Present meaning Future
In French, you don’t always have to use the Future Simple tense to talk about the future. You don’t even have to use the Near Future tense. You can just use the Present Tense, provided that you also specify a time that will occur sometime in the near future, eg “this evening,” “tomorrow,” or even…
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Grammar: Past Conditional
The Past Conditional tense in French expresses the idea that you WOULD HAVE done something, if conditions had been different in the past. In English, it uses either the words “would have” or “‘d” (apostrophe d) + “have.” The past conditional of the English verb “to give” is either “I would have given” or “I’d…
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Grammar: Passé Composé negative
When you want to say that something DIDN’T happen in the past, you will need to make a negative statement in the Passé Composé. This is easy to do. You wrap the “ne…pas” (or other negative term) around the “avoir” or “être” part of the Passé Composé. Verbs conjugated with AVOIR (most verbs) French English…
