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: Derivatives & Homologues
Many irregular French verbs are used in derivative form to make new verbs with new meanings. The derived 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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Verb: Avoir
The French verb “avoir” is a fundamental verb that holds great importance in the French language. Translated as “to have” in English, “avoir” is an irregular verb that appears in various contexts and is used in a multitude of expressions. Let’s explore the verb “avoir” and its significance in French. Firstly, let’s look at its…
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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…
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Grammar: Irregular Past Participles
If you want to use the Passé Composé verb tense in French, you will need to know four things: The table below contains a list of French verbs with irregular past participles, along with similar verbs whose past participles are constructed in a similar way. Eg, just as the past participle of venir is venu,…
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Grammar: Passé Composé with être
In the French verb tense “Passé Composé,” most verbs are conjugated with “avoir.” So for example, “I have given” is “j’ai donné,” which literally translates to “I have given.” But some intransitive verbs are conjugated with “être,” the verb “to be.” What is an intransitive verb? An intransitive verb is a verb without an object….
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Grammar: Passé Composé (regular verbs)
The “passé composé” means the “compound past.” It is called the compound past because it is made up of two verbs put together into a compound form. Eg “I do” is the present tense and it is called a simple tense, because it only has one verb. But “I have done” is a compound tense…
