Unfortunately, there are some
irregular
verbs, and we need to knowthem. The main ones are: “être”(j’ai été), “avoir” (j’ai eu), “faire” (j’aifait).So all the “avoir” verbs are very easy to form.Now, we need to concentrate on the “être” verbs, as they require abit more attention.
The “être” verbs
Do you remember what we need to add at the end of the adjectivesif they are feminine or plural? Yes, an
-s
or an
-e
(or even both).For example, if we are talking about a tall boy, we would say “un
grand
garcon”, but for a tall girl, we would say “
grand
e
”, and for morethan one girl, we would say “
grand
es
”. The “être” verbs work the same way:
the ending of the main verbwill also need an -e or an -s depending on the subject.
Let’s take an example: “rester” (to stay). As this is an –ER verb, wealready know the -er will turn into -
é
.So, if a
boy
says “I stayed”, we would say “je suis
rest
é
”, but if a
girl
says “I stayed”, we would say “je suis
rest
ée
”. And if a
group of boys
says it, we would say “nous sommes
rest
és
”, and a
group of girls
, “nous sommes
rest
ées
”.Note: if we have a group of boys and girls, this will be in themasculine form (no -e).Summary: to write in the perfect tense, we need to answer thesequestions:
-
is it an “être” or “avoir” verb?
-
if it is an “être” verb, who is the subject? (Masculine?Feminine? Plural?)Last but not least, never forget the accent on the -e for the –ER verbs: if you write “j’ai joue” instead of “j’ai jou
é
”, you will not beawarded any mark! Your turn now: do you remember “être” and “avoir” in the presenttense?
3
Leave a Comment
this was so very useful...!! :) thank you!!!
thank you very much for french verb material.....; -venkat
This is really helpful Miss, thank-you very much