Les Temps du Verbe et Les Modes

Subject: French
Classes: 11-E, 11-F, 11-H and 11 Pool EXTRA
School: Ardenne High School
Territory: Jamaica
Year of Examination: 2024

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 Table of Contents
Overview.....................................................................................................................3
Tenses..........................................................................................................................4
Le Présent de L'indicatif.................................................................................................4
Le Passé Composé...........................................................................................................5
L’Imparfait...................................................................................................................... 9
Le Futur........................................................................................................................ 11
Le Conditionnel........................................................................................................... 13
Le Plus que Parfait........................................................................................................ 15
Moods....................................................................................................................... 16
L’Impératif.................................................................................................................... 16
Le Subjonctif Présent................................................................................................... 18
Le Participe Présent...................................................................................................... 20

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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 Overview
The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) French Examination has four
profiles, which are as follows: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The exam
itself has three components. These are:

Paper 1:
The Paper 1 aspect consists of 60 multiple-choice questions. The first half (30
questions) is based on listening while the second half is based on reading. Paper 1 is the
listening and reading aspect of the examination.

Paper 2:
This component consists of four sections. Section 1 comprises 10 situational responses.
Section 2 is a letter in which you are expected to follow the prompt. Section 3 is a
contextual dialogue in which you have to write a response based on the cues given.
Section 4 is a reading comprehension which should be answered in English. Paper 2 is
the writing aspect of the examination.

Paper 3:
Paper 3 consists of three sections. Section 1 consists of five situational scenarios which
you must respond to. Section 2 is a reading passage that you will read and Section 3 is 16
questions that you are expected to respond to. You will receive 15 minutes before this
exam to prepare your responses for the five sitauations and go through your reading
passage. Paper 3 is the speaking aspect of the examination.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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 Tenses
In the CSEC French syllabus, six main tenses are used. These are namely:
➢ Le Présent de L'indicatif - The Present Tense
➢ Le Passé Composé - The Past Indefinite
➢ L'Imparfait - The Imperfect Tense
➢ Le Futur - The Future Tense
➢ Le Conditionnel - The Conditional
➢ Le Plus que Parfait - The Pluperfect

Le Présent de L'indicatif
The present tense is used to speak about what is happening now; what is happening
currently.

In order to conjugate the present tense for regular -ER, -IR and -RE verbs, look at the
following table below.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Le Passé Composé
The past indefinite tense in French is used to talk about completed actions in the past. It
is formed by combining the present tense of an auxiliary verb (avoir - to have or être - to
be) and the past participle of the verb.

Avoir or Être + Past Participle = Passé Composé

E.g. J’ai marché à la boulangérie. - I walked to the bakery.
E.g. Elle est tombée au parc. - She fell at the park.

For regular verbs, the endings of the past participle are:

➢ -ER: é - danser → dansé
➔ I danced. → J’ai dansé.
➢ -IR: i - obeir → obéi
➔ She obeyed. → Elle a obéi.
➢ -RE: u - repondre → repondu
➔ They responded. → Ils ont repondu.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Irregular verbs in the Passé Composé use avoir as the auxiliary.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Verbs that use être in the Passé Composé use an acronym known as,
DR. MRS VANDERTRAMP(P).

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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The final (P) stands for Passer which means to spend time or to pass by a place/an item
to someone or through something (literally). This is important because passer uses both
avoir and être. The past participle of Passer is passé.
In the case of avoir,
Passer is used either to
say you spent time, to say
that you passed an item
to someone or to say that
you passed an item
through an object.

In the case of être, Passer

is used to say that you
literally passed by a place.

NB: Passer is never used to say that you passed an examination. In that case, you would
use the verb Réussir which means to succeed. The past participle of Réussir is réussi.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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L’Imparfait
The imperfect tense in French is used to talk about incomplete (continuous/ongoing or
repeated) actions in the past or what someone used to do. It is formed by taking the
nous form of the verb in the present tense, dropping the -ons and adding the following
endings:

Stem of the nous form of the verb in the present tense + Imperfect Ending
= L’Imparfait

E.g. Danser in nous form is dansons. Drop the -ons from dansons.
It turns into…Je dansais - I was dancing or I used to dance.

Exceptions:
➢ The stems of être, falloir and pleuvoir are êt-, fall- and pleuv- respectively.
➢ Verbs like manger and ranger that end in -ger, insert a silent "e" between the “g”
and “a” to retain the soft "g" sound in the je, tu, il and ils forms. E.g. Mon frère
mangeait.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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➢ Similarly verbs like commencer, which end in -cer insert a “ç” before the “a” to
maintain the soft "c" sound soft in the je, tu, il and ils forms. E.g. Je
commençais.
➢ Verbs than end in -ions in the present tense end with -iions in the nous form
and -iiez in the vous form. E.g. Nous étudiions, Vous étudiiez; nous riions,
Vous riiez.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Le Futur
The future tense in French tells us what will occur in the future. The future tense can be
formed in two ways:

Le Futur Proche - The Immediate Future

The immediate future speaks about events that will happen in the near future. In order
to form this you use aller conjugation + infintive form of the verb.

Aller conjugation + Infinitive = Futur Proche

E.g. Je vais aller à l’école. - I will go to school

Le Futur Simple - The Simple Future

The simple future speaks about events that will happen in the far future. It is formed
using the future tense endings.

E.g. J'irai au cinéma. - I will go to the cinema.

E.g. Ma sœur jouera au badminton. - My sister will play badminton.
“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Exceptions:
There are several verbs which have irregular stems. The most common are given below:

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Le Conditionnel
The conditional tense talks about what someone would do. In some cases would is
replaced by should. It is formed by combining the infinitive form of the verb and the
following endings. Regular verbs use the full infinitive as the stem. If you notice, the
conditional tense uses the same endings as the imperfect tense.

Infinitive + Ending = Le Conditionnel

E.g. Vous regarderiez la télé. - You all would watch the television.
E.g. Nous répondrions. - We would answer.
E.g. J’obéirais aux règles de l'école. - I would obey the rules of the school.

NB: For -RE verbs, the “-E” is dropped and the endings are added

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Exceptions:
For irregular verbs, the irregular stem used in the future tense is the same for the
conditional.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Le Plus que Parfait
The pluperfect tense or the “past of the past” is used to express an action that had
happened before another action occurred in the past. It can also be used to express a past
hypothesis, to express regret, in a past conditional sentence, or to do reporting. It is a
mixture of the imperfect and perfect tenses. It is formed as a compound tense because it
is made up of être and avoir in the imperfect plus the past participle of the action verb.

Avoir or Être in the imperfect + Past Participle (Passé Composé) = Le Plus que
Parfait
E.g. J’avais déjà mangé quand il est arrivé. - I had already eaten when he arrived.
E.g Il m’a dit qu’il était allé en France. - He told me that he had gone/been to France.

NB: Remember the irregular verbs in the Passé Composé.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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 Moods
In the CSEC French syllabus, four main moods are used. These are namely:
➢ L'Impératif - The Imperative
➢ Le Subjonctif Présent - The Present Subjunctive
➢ L'Indicatif - The Indicative (This is literally just the present tense in a mood.)
➢ L'Infinitif - The Infinitive (This is just the verb itself as an infinitive.)
➢ EXTRA: Le Participe Présent - The Present Participle
Under this, only the three in bold will be looked at.

L’Impératif
The imperative mood in French is used mainly to give commands. It is also used to make
requests, express desires, provide recommendations, offer advice, and prohibit actions.

The “tu”, “nous” and “vous” forms are used in the imperative. The “nous” form is
more so translated as, “let us…”.

It is formed by using the present tense of verbs in the “tu”, “nous” and “vous” forms.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Exceptions:
➢ For -ER verbs, in the “tu” form, the final “s” is not added.
E.g. Danser in the “tu” form would be danses. However, the final s is not
added and it turns into danse.
➢ Irregular verbs generally follow the same pattern as regular verbs in terms of
formation. Irregular -ER verbs also drop the final “s” in the “tu” form.

➢ Avoir, Être, Savoir and Vouloir have exceptional imperatives.

➢ The adverb “donc” is often used to make the verb for emphatic.
E.g. Pensez donc! - Just think
E.g. Venez donc! - Come on!

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Le Subjonctif Présent
The subjunctive mood is used to express…WEIRDO.
Wishes
Emotions
Impersonal Expressions
Request
Demands
Opinions
It is the mood of uncertainty and emotion. Verbs in the subjunctive mood are generally
used in a dependent clause introduced by que or qu’ (that).

E.g Il est important que vous étudiiez. - It is important that you study.
E.g. Votre mère désire que vous travailliez. - Your mother wants you to work.

Steps involved in forming the subjunctive:

1) Take the 3rd person plural (ils/elles).
jouent perdent finissent
2) Remove the “-ent” and add the following endings…
-e, -es, -e, -ions, -iez, -ent
Je joue, Tu perdes, Il finisse, Nous jouions, Vous perdiez, Elles finissent
3) Use “que” or “qu’”.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Irregular Verbs:
The endings are the same for all verbs except Avoir and Être.

For more information:

The Subjunctive Mood

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Le Participe Présent
The French present participle, which always ends in -ant may be used as a verb, gerund,
noun or adjective because it has no number or person marker. It is an impersonal verb
mood.

Structurally, French present participles are equivalent to "verb + ing" in English, but
grammatically there are many differences between them.

E.g. donnant - giving

E.g choisissant - choosing

E.g. vendant - selling

It is formed by taking the “nous” form of the verb in the present tense, dropping the
“-ons” and adding the “-ant” ending.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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Because the present participle may act as a gerund, there is also a formation for that.

Irregulars:

There are only three irregular verbs in the present participle.

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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For more information:

The Present Progressive

Present Participle

“L'éducation est la clé du succès.”

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