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Year 10 - French

Qui a écrit ... ? Perfect tense with predictable and irregular past participles

Lifestyle and wellbeing: Des personnalités francophones

Unit Summary

This unit focuses on communicating in the perfect tense, revisiting regular and irregular past participle formation, verbs with être and past participle agreement. Pupils will meet the past participles of verbs like ouvrir, écrire and traduire, and revisit perfect tense questions and negation.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use the perfect tense with 'avoir' with a range of predictable and irregular past participles to understand past achievements.

Key Notes

  • The perfect tense is formed by combining part of 'avoir' or 'être' (the auxiliary verb) and a past participle.
  • Verbs like 'prendre' and 'entendre' in the present form their past participles in the same way: 'pris', 'entendu'.
  • Verbs like choisir, partir and venir in the present form their past participles in the same way: choisi, parti, venu.
  • Three common irregular verbs and their past participles are: 'avoir' (eu), 'faire' (fait), 'boire' (bu).

Vocabulary To Learn

  • auxiliary verb: a form of either 'avoir' or 'être' used to form the perfect tense
  • past participle: verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb
  • irregular: describes a word that does not follow the regular pattern

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • All French verbs use 'avoir' as the auxiliary to form the perfect tense.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

The perfect tense is formed by combining part of 'avoir' or 'être' (the auxiliary verb) and a past participle. Verbs like 'prendre' and 'entendre' in the present form their past participles in the same way: 'pris', 'entendu'.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'auxiliary verb'

a form of either 'avoir' or 'être' used to form the perfect tense. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: All French verbs use 'avoir' as the auxiliary to form the perfect tense. Correction: Verbs expressing changes of state, location or condition often use 'être' to form the perfect tense.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 10 French guide library.