Ab Initio Someone help me with french grammar :-(

[ecieee]

I don't know if it's just me but french grammar is really difficult for me!!

I'm not far off from my IB exams but I still don't really know how to use subjunctive/conditional/future....etc.

The only tense that I can confidently use is present tense (I'm so dumb. mooooo)

Can somebody help me learning the grammar?

I just don't understand them

[ShootingStars]

Awww okay don't worry. I'm going to give you a top tip for learning french grammar

But before I do, do you have good grammar notes? Consider getting the OSC Revision guide, for example?

Or even if you just rely on school stuff or the internet, that's okay too. Just get a hold of good french grammar notes you can understand.

Then begin to learn how to use each tense. It's like math, there's a formula for every tense. You just need to remember the formula (for which I'm giving you my top tip) Oh and don't worry about when to use, just understand fully how to use the tense you work on. --> Also memorize all the irregular endings. SO SO important. Easy things you can do to help is use acronyms - mrs vandertramp for all the house verbs/verbs that take etre in passe compose for example. It won't take too long if you just sit down, put all other thoughts out of your head and focus on "the tense of the day". This is why a good set of french grammar notes is just really necessary.

Now my top tip for putting it all together. Take an A4 Sheet of Paper, and divide it into sections, as demonstrated below:

Left Side of paper -------> Right Side of paper

Present Tense ---------> Passe Compose

Imparfait ---------> Plus-que-parfait

Futur Simple -------> futur anterieur

Conditionnel --------> Conditionnel passe

Subjonctif --------> Subjonctif passe

Imperatif

Now take avoir and complete this sheet. You will see that it is easy to remember passe compose (seriously forgive my lack of accents) if you know present, it is easy to know plus-que-parfait if you know imparfait etc. I doubt you need conditionnel passe, futur anterieur or subjonctif passe, I just put it in to show you how the completed table looks like. just ignore those three tenses okay?

So whenever you learn a new verb, just take it and write out this entire sheet with it. You will begin to see french grammar making sense in your head, and that feeling? It's quite beautiful, trust me.

Hope this helps, good luck with the exam

[Jaymi]

Helloo...yeaa sure! i can help you with Imperfect=) and the Perfect=) (in other words, past tense)

The Perfect

It is formed:

avoir or etre(in the present) + past participle(of the verb)

(NB: "avoir" or "etre" are called auxiliaires (= auxiliary verbs or helping verbs)

A) Perfect with avoir

Most verbs are formed with avoir.

avoir + past participle

endings used (in bold)-> j'ai, tu as, il/elle/on a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont.

Of course there will be irregular verbs and they just have to be learnt off by heart (sadly) these are:

faire -> fait, dire -> dit, finir -> fini, écrire -> écrit, dormir -> dormi, boire -> bu, conduire -> conduit, voir -> vu, prendre -> pris, vouloir -> voulu, lire -> lu, apprendre -> appris, mettre -> mis, avoir -> eu, savoir -> su, entrendre -> entendu, pouvoir -> pu, devoir -> du, connaitre -> connu, recevoir -> reçu, etre -> été.

NB: With "avoir", the past participle does not agree with the subject. So even if the subject is feminine or plural, no extre "e" / "s" or "es" are added to the past participle.

B) Perfect with etre

There are only a few which use etre, you can use "Mrs Van De Tramp" to remember it (in brackets are the past participles)

M -> Monter (monté)

R -> Rester (resté)

S -> Sortir (sorti)

V -> Venir (venu)

A -> Arriver (arrivé)

N -> Naitre (né)

D -> Descendre (descendu)

E -> Entrer (entré)

T -> Tomber (tombé)

R -> Retourner (retourné)

A -> Aller (allé)

M -> Mourir (mort)

P -> Partir (parti)

Etre (in the present) + past participle (the verb)

The endings used are (in bold):

je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous étes, ils/elles sont.

example: elles sont descendues, ils sont partis, je suis allé au parc ce week-end, mon frere est sorti en boite Samedi soir.

In conclusion

-The perfect tense is relatively easy, before putting a verb in the perfect think of:

1) decide if you need to use "avoir" or "etre"

2) Conjugate "avoir" or "etre" in the present

3) Find the past participle of the verb

4) If you are dealing with an "etre" verb, don't forget the agreement.

The Imperfect

Okay so the imperfect is used for:

-a description in the past (description of place/people/emotions/weather etc.)

-an action/ a habit that "used to" happen frequently in the past but does not anymore

-an unfinished action in the past and/or an action which was "in progress" in the past when it was interrupted by another shorter action.

(if you know WHEN to use it, half the battle is fought )

this is how it is formed..

to be able to conjugate a verb in the imperfect, it is essential that you learn the "nous" form of the verbs in the present. Why? Because to conjugate a verb in the imperfect you need to:

-take the "nous" form of the verb in the present tense -> (nous regardons / nous finissons / nous prenons)

-take off the "nous" and the "ons" ending -> ( regard / fais / pren )

-then add the correct imperfect ending:

(-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient)

so in the end you get

-je regard[i]ais / vous faisiez / elles prenaient

But as always in french, there are exceptions, in this case just one -> Etre. The stem for etre is ét.

NB: Don't forget that the verbs such as nager/ ranger/ manger keep the "e" after the "g" and in front of the "a": je rangeais, tu rangeais, il rangeait, nous rangions, vous rangiez, ils rangeaient.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope this helped you to some extent=) Let me know what other tenses you learnt and i'll try put up "easy to learn" notes.

[cookie.dough.love]

Helloo...yeaa sure! i can help you with Imperfect=) and the Perfect=) (in other words, past tense)

The Perfect

It is formed:

avoir or etre(in the present) + past participle(of the verb)

(NB: "avoir" or "etre" are called auxiliaires (= auxiliary verbs or helping verbs)

A) Perfect with avoir

Most verbs are formed with avoir.

avoir + past participle

endings used (in bold)-> j'ai, tu as, il/elle/on a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont.

Of course there will be irregular verbs and they just have to be learnt off by heart (sadly) these are:

faire -> fait, dire -> dit, finir -> fini, écrire -> écrit, dormir -> dormi, boire -> bu, conduire -> conduit, voir -> vu, prendre -> pris, vouloir -> voulu, lire -> lu, apprendre -> appris, mettre -> mis, avoir -> eu, savoir -> su, entrendre -> entendu, pouvoir -> pu, devoir -> du, connaitre -> connu, recevoir -> reçu, etre -> été.

NB: With "avoir", the past participle does not agree with the subject. So even if the subject is feminine or plural, no extre "e" / "s" or "es" are added to the past participle.

B) Perfect with etre

There are only a few which use etre, you can use "Mrs Van De Tramp" to remember it (in brackets are the past participles)

M -> Monter (monté)

R -> Rester (resté)

S -> Sortir (sorti)

V -> Venir (venu)

A -> Arriver (arrivé)

N -> Naitre (né)

D -> Descendre (descendu)

E -> Entrer (entré)

T -> Tomber (tombé)

R -> Retourner (retourné)

A -> Aller (allé)

M -> Mourir (mort)

P -> Partir (parti)

Etre (in the present) + past participle (the verb)

The endings used are (in bold):

je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous étes, ils/elles sont.

example: elles sont descendues, ils sont partis, je suis allé au parc ce week-end, mon frere est sorti en boite Samedi soir.

In conclusion

-The perfect tense is relatively easy, before putting a verb in the perfect think of:

1) decide if you need to use "avoir" or "etre"

2) Conjugate "avoir" or "etre" in the present

3) Find the past participle of the verb

4) If you are dealing with an "etre" verb, don't forget the agreement.

The Imperfect

Okay so the imperfect is used for:

-a description in the past (description of place/people/emotions/weather etc.)

-an action/ a habit that "used to" happen frequently in the past but does not anymore

-an unfinished action in the past and/or an action which was "in progress" in the past when it was interrupted by another shorter action.

(if you know WHEN to use it, half the battle is fought )

this is how it is formed..

to be able to conjugate a verb in the imperfect, it is essential that you learn the "nous" form of the verbs in the present. Why? Because to conjugate a verb in the imperfect you need to:

-take the "nous" form of the verb in the present tense -> (nous regardons / nous finissons / nous prenons)

-take off the "nous" and the "ons" ending -> ( regard / fais / pren )

-then add the correct imperfect ending:

(-ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient)

so in the end you get

-je regard[i]ais / vous faisiez / elles prenaient

But as always in french, there are exceptions, in this case just one -> Etre. The stem for etre is ét.

NB: Don't forget that the verbs such as nager/ ranger/ manger keep the "e" after the "g" and in front of the "a": je rangeais, tu rangeais, il rangeait, nous rangions, vous rangiez, ils rangeaient.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope this helped you to some extent=) Let me know what other tenses you learnt and i'll try put up "easy to learn" notes.

good stuff, needed you when I was doing my GCSEs! xo