French · Elementary (A2) · Chapter 1 of 12
Talking about the past
Parler du passé
Say what you did yesterday or last weekend with the passé composé, using avoir or être, and time words like hier and il y a.
In this chapter you'll learn to
- Say what you did at the weekend
- Choose between avoir and être in the past
- Say when something happened
Listen
On Monday morning, Yanis meets his friend Lucie at a café in Nantes and asks about her weekend. Listen to the whole dialogue first, then line by line.
Yanis
Salut, Lucie. Tu as passé un bon week-end ?
Hi, Lucie. Did you have a good weekend?
Lucie
Oui, très bon. Samedi, je suis allée à La Baule, chez ma sœur.
Yes, very good. On Saturday I went to La Baule, to my sister's.
Yanis
En train ?
By train?
Lucie
Non, en voiture. Je suis partie tôt le matin. On a mangé des crêpes et on a joué au tennis.
No, by car. I left early in the morning. We ate crêpes and played tennis.
Yanis
Et tu es rentrée quand ?
And when did you get back?
Lucie
Hier soir, vers vingt et une heures. Et toi, qu'est-ce que tu as fait ?
Last night, around nine. And you, what did you do?
Yanis
Pas grand-chose. Vendredi soir, j'ai vu un film au cinéma avec Hugo.
Not much. On Friday evening I saw a film at the cinema with Hugo.
Lucie
Et dimanche ?
And on Sunday?
Yanis
Dimanche, j'ai fait un peu de sport, et le soir, mes parents sont venus dîner.
On Sunday I did a bit of sport, and in the evening my parents came for dinner.
Lucie
Ils sont restés tard ?
Did they stay late?
Yanis
Non, ils sont partis à dix heures. Ils ont pris le dernier bus.
No, they left at ten. They took the last bus.
Understand
The passé composé with avoir
The is the everyday past tense in spoken French. It covers “I ate”, “I have eaten” and “did you eat?”. It has two parts: in the present tense (a helper verb), then the past participle, the form of the verb that means “eaten”, “played” and so on: , .
For all -er verbs, the past participle ends in -é and sounds exactly like the infinitive: , . Many other common verbs have an irregular participle, so learn them one by one. In the negative, ne… pas goes around :
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| (to eat) | ||
| (to play) | ||
| (to do) | ||
| (to take) | ||
| (to see) | ||
| (to drink) | ||
| (to have) | (I was lucky.) |
Verbs that take être
A small group of verbs, mostly about coming and going, use instead of : (I went), (they came). The most useful ones are , (to come), (to leave), (to arrive), (to come home), (to stay) and (to go out).
With , the past participle agrees with the subject, like an adjective: add -e for a woman and -s for more than one person (a mixed group takes the masculine -s). That's why Lucie says . You can't hear the difference, but you must write it.
| Subject | (to go) | (to leave) |
|---|---|---|
| (man / woman) | / | / |
| (man / woman) | / | / |
| / | / | / |
| / | / | |
| (one person or several) | vous êtes allé(e)(s) | vous êtes parti(e)(s) |
| / | / | / |
When? Hier, dernier, il y a
means “yesterday”. With a day of the week, the passé composé is enough to show you mean the most recent one: (On Saturday I went to La Baule).
(last) goes after , and so on, and becomes after a feminine noun like . Before a noun, means the last one in a series: (the last bus of the day). For “ago”, put before the time: (two days ago).
| French | English |
|---|---|
| yesterday | |
| last night, yesterday evening | |
| the day before yesterday | |
| last Saturday | |
| last weekend | |
| last week | |
| two days ago |
More in the grammar: The passé composé: talking about the past
New words
- passer un bon week-endto have a good weekend · means “to spend” (time)
- je suis allé / je suis alléeI went (said by a man / a woman)
- en voitureby car · : by train
- partirto leave · / : I left
- la crêpecrêpe, thin pancake
- hier soirlast night, yesterday evening
- qu'est-ce que tu as fait ?what did you do?
- pas grand-chosenot much
- voirto see · past participle:
- venirto come · : they came
- dînerto have dinner · also a noun: , dinner
- resterto stay
- dernier / dernièrelast
- il y a deux jourstwo days ago · + a length of time means “ago”
Practise
1.Lucie is a woman. How does she write “I left early”?
2.Complete with the right form of : “We saw a film.”
We saw a film.
3.Complete with the past participle of .
They took the last bus.
4.How do you say “three days ago”?
5.Put the words in order.
Tap the words below in the right order.My parents came for dinner on Sunday.
6.Match the French with the English.
Pick a word on the left, then its meaning on the right.
0 of 6 exercises done.
Say it out loud
J'ai passé un bon week-end.
I had a good weekend.
Listen, then say it out loud, as close to the recording as you can.
Check
Five questions on this chapter. Then mark it as finished to add its words to your review deck.
0 of 5 answered.