Grammar: Recent Past tense
The French verb tense called the Recent Past (or Passé Récent in French) is a way to talk about things that have happened in the past, but quite recently.
It translates in English as “to have just (done something).”
It is very easy to use because it doesn’t use an actual past tense, so it doesn’t require knowledge of any additional verb stems or endings.
Present tense of VENIR + DE + INFINITIVE of other verb
Let’s use the verb “donner” (to give) as an example:
| je viens de donner | I have just given |
| tu viens de donner | you have just given |
| il vient de donner | he has just given |
| nous venons de donner | we have just given |
| vous venez de donner | you (formal/plural) have just given |
| ils viennent de donner | they have just given |
So – as long as you can conjugate the present tense of “venir” (by following the example above), you can easily construct the Recent Past tense.
