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Year 9 - French

A mystery: perfect and imperfect tenses together

Ongoing past events: imperfect tense

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils re-examine être and avoir in the imperfect tense in singular form, and add aller and faire in the imperfect what people used to do. The imperfect is then contrasted with the perfect tense to distinguish between ongoing vs specific events. The verb 'voir' is introduced.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use the perfect and imperfect tenses together to describe simultaneous events in the context of a mystery.

Key Notes

  • The singular forms of 'voir' in the present tense are 'vois' ('je', 'tu') and 'voit' ('il', 'elle').
  • The verb 'voir' is used in many expressions in French like 'voir grand', 'rien à voir avec' and 'voir la vie en rose'.
  • Use the imperfect tense to express the past continuous 'was -ing'.
  • Use the perfect + imperfect tenses together with a conjunction to describe what happened when you were doing something.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • imperfect tense: tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • The imperfect tense only describes what used to happen.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The singular forms of 'voir' in the present tense are 'vois' ('je', 'tu') and 'voit' ('il', 'elle'). The verb 'voir' is used in many expressions in French like 'voir grand', 'rien à voir avec' and 'voir la vie en rose'.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'imperfect tense'

tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: The imperfect tense only describes what used to happen. Correction: The imperfect tense describes what was happening and what used to happen and can be used with the perfect tense and a conjunction like 'quand' or 'pendant que'.

More Lessons In This Unit

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