French Study Card

L’impératif is a mood that you use to give an order or suggestion to one or more people.

For example:

“Donne-moi ça!“

“Arrêtez!”

The imperative exists in the second person singular and plural (tu, vous).

Sometimes we include ourselves in the command (nous).

For example:

“Allons!“

On your card, the first top table starting from the left, shows you the endings needed for tu, nous and vous with –ER, –IR and –RE verbs.

To form the imperative, you need the same endings as the present tense for tu, vous and nous but without the pronouns.

Based on the present tense endings, there is a slight change  in tu with -ER ending:

Tu manges (present ending)

Drop the -s:

mange.

Example:

Manger – Mange! Mangons! Mangez!

Finir – Finis! Finissons! Finissez!

Attendre – Attends!  Attendons! Attendez!

When the pronouns en and y are used with the imperative in affirmative in the tu form with –ER verbs, the –s is recovered for pronunciation reasons. You also need to put a hyphen (–) between the verb and the pronoun.

Example:

Manges-en

Manges-y

Your card also contains a table with the irregular verbs conjugated in imperative. avoir, être, faire, savoir and vouloir.

This table in your card shows the structure of the imperative with pronouns.

• When the order is in affirmative, the pronoun goes after the verb, and it has a hyphen (–).
  
  

Example:

Donne-moi.

• When the order is negative, the pronoun goes before the verb.
  
  
• Mo and toi become me and te.
  
  

Example:

Ne me donne pas.

This is the structure for the negative imperative:

ne + pronoun + verbe + pas

• When the direct pronouns (le, la, les) and indirect pronouns (moi, toi, lui, nous, etc.) are together, the direct pronoun goes before the indirect pronoun. Remember that the verb and the pronoun are joined by a hyphen (–).
  
  

Example:

Donne-le moi. 

• In the negative form, the pronouns go before the verb:
  
  

Example:

Ne me le donne pas.

There are two tables beside it. They show you the order the pronouns follow with the infinitive in affirmative and in negative.

These tables are handy to have as a reference when you are not sure about the position of the pronouns.

Example:

Passe–le–moi!

Dites-le–lui!

Va t’en!

Ne me le prends pas!

Ne me l’apportez pas!

This table shows you what the different pronouns can substitute, for example, le, la and les substitute someone or something.

Example:

Je vois un circle noir. – Je le vois.

Remember that the pronoun you use needs to agree with gender and number, le for masculine, la for feminine and les for plural.

• If the person you substitute has the preposition à, then you need to use lui or leur.
  
  

Example:

Je parle à Louise. – Je lui parle.

• If the part you are going to substitute is not a person but a thing (a phone), an abstract notion (health), or a place (Paris), and it has the preposition à, then you need to use y.
  
  

Example:

Je pense à la mer. – J’y pense.

• You also use y if the part you are going to substitute has a proposition of place like, en, dans, sure, etc.
  
  

Example:

Elle est dans la gare – Elle y est.

• If the part you are going to substitute is a thing (a phone), a place (Paris), or there is a quantity and it has the preposition de, then you need to use en.
  
  

Example:

Je veux du cafe. – J’en veux.

• When the quantity you are going to substitute is preceded by un, une, du, de, de la, des, de l’, d‘, or des, you need to use en.
  
  

Example:

J’ai deux frères. – J’en ai deux.

This table shows you a summary of these explanations with examples of when you need to use le, la, les, lui, leur, y and en so you can use the pronouns correctly when you substitute information.

In English, certain verbs and expressions need a specific preposition like:

I’m interested in…, I think about…, I believe in…, I’m sure about…

In French, the prepositions may not be the same as in English. Some verbs in English may not even need a preposition, but they do in French, so these types of verbs need to be memorised.

On your card, these couple of tables give you a list of 10 common verbs that need the preposition à or de.

Example:

penser à

 Je pense à la mer.

jouer de

 Je joue de la guitare.

When you want to substitute whatever comes after à or de, you need the prepositions y and en respectively.

Example:

penser à

Je pense à la mer.

J‘y pense.

jouer de

Je joue de la guitare

J’en joue.

Look at the case of jouer, for example. In French, there is jouer à (to play a sport), and jouer de (to play an instrument).

If you use substitution, this is the way they will be:

J’en joue.

J’y joue.

Both sentences say, I play it, but you can imply the meaning of what it is played, an instrument or a game, by knowing that:

en substitutes de,

and y substitutes à.

In English, the relative pronouns are who, which, of which, that, whom, where.

• They give you more information about the person, thing or idea that is referred to.
  
  

Example:

Her dad, who is a doctor, told us that the symptoms were normal.

You can understand this sentence: 

Her dad told us that the symptoms were normal.

Who is a doctor, is extra information about her dad.

• The relative pronouns identify the person or thing being talked about.

Example:

The phone that I bought has the same functions as the old one.

Which phone is the one that has the same functions as the old one? Not yours, not the one my dad gave me, the one that I bought.

• In English, in some sentences, the relative pronouns can be optional. For example, instead of saying: The phone that I bought has the same functions as the old one, we can say: The phone I bought has the same functions as the old one.
  
  
  
• These are the relative pronouns in French: qui, que, qu’, lequel, auquel, duquel, de quoi, à quoi, dont, où. 
  
  

Qui (who, which or what). It gives you more information about the subject.

Example:

 La femme qui parle est ma mère.

Que (who, whom, which or what). It gives you more information about the object.

Example:

Les livres qu’elle écrit sont bons.

Le film que j’ai vu est merveilleux.

Lequel (which) is used after a preposition, and it refers to things or persons. It has to agree with them in gender and number.

Example:

La maison dans laquelle j’habite est très spacieuse. 

Les gens parmi lesquels il vit sont gentils.

• When the preposition à is before lequel, it becomes auquel
  
  
  

Example:

La reunion à laquelle je participe est animée.
 

• When the preposition de is before lequel, it becomes duquel.
  
  
  

Example:

La pont prés à duquel nous mangeons est joli.  

Dont (whose, of whom, of which) can be used to refer to persons or things. This pronoun is used when the original expressions contain de.

Example:

Je cherche la maison dont la porte est jaune. (La porte de la maison es jaune.)

Où (where, when, which or that) is used for places and time.

Example:

La ville où je suis né.

Le jour où je suis parti.

Á qui, de qui, avec qui (to whom, with whom) is used for people.

Example:

La fille à qui vous parlez est belle.

Á quoi, de quoi (about what, on what) is used for ideas or abstract concepts.

Example:

Je sais de quoi il s’agit.

• The passé simple is used in literary contexts such as novels, biographies and articles. It is too formal to use in conversation and informal writing. The passé composé is widely used instead; however, you need to know how to identify it to understand texts even if you won’t use it much orally.
  
  
  
• The passé simple is used when an action happened in the past with no relation to the present tense.
  
  

Example:

“Nous allâmes à Paris”.

“J’envoyai le télégramme”.

The conjugation is not as regular as with other tenses. This table on your card, shows you the endings that you need to add to verbs that end in –ER, -IR, -OIR and –OIRE.

Your card also shows a table with 5 irregular verbs conjugated in passé simple, avoir, être, faire, tenir and venir.

The table on the top right gives you a few examples of verbs with irregular roots for -IRE, -RE, -OIR and-OIRE ending verbs. The verb shows you the root, and you can follow the conjugation given on the main table.

Example:

écrire – j’écrivis, tu j’écrivis, il j’écrivit, nous j’écrivîmes, vous j’écrivîtes, elles j’écrivirent 

Example:

“J’écrivis, il y a, quelques jours, à l’Abbé, ce que je penfois fur la…”

LES TEMPS COMPOSÉS are formed by two parts, the helping verb, avoir or être, + the past participle of the main verb.

Example:

Je vends – temp simple

J’ai vendu – temp composé

J’aurai vendu – temp composé

Ils sont partis – temp composé

The table in your card shows you four common tenses, passé composé, plus-que-parfait, futur antérieur and conditionnel passé. The helping verb avoir and être are conjugated accordingly.

Here is an example of the table with the first two persons, je and tu.

Your basic to intermediate French card has a table with 24 of the most used irregular participles.

LE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ

It is used to express that an action was completed in the past. It uses expressions such as hier, la semaine dernière, la nuit dernière, etc.

The helping verbs avoir and être, are conjugated in the present tense.

Example:

Hier, je ne suis pas allé à l’école.

 J’ai eu faim.

LE PLUS-QUE-PARAFIT

• This tense refers to an action that took place before another action in the past.
  
  
• It is typically used when telling stories or anecdotes, to give more background information. That’s why this tense is generally used with another tense such as the imparfait, the passé composé or passé simple.
  
  
• The action shown in the plus-que-parfait, happened before the action in the other past tenses.
  
  

To form the conjugation, you need the auxiliary verbs être or avoir conjugated in the imparfait, and the participle of the verb.

Example:

J’étais partie en vacances – Note the agreement of the verb and the subject (elle) partie.

Il n’avait pas mangé avant de faire ses devoirs.

FUTUR ANTÉRIEUR

This tense is used to say that something that will have happened in the future. For example, Robbie will have arrived this time tomorrow. 

It’s also used to express predictions or suppositions about what might have happened in the past. Example: He must have missed the train, that’s why he’s late.

To form the conjugation, you need the auxiliary verbs être or avoir conjugated in the futur, and the past participle of the verb.

Example:

Il aura oublié notre rendez-vous.

Vous serez sortie de la session.

LE CONDITIONNEL PASSÉ

This tense is used to express what someone would have done. For example, I would have returned the money.

It is also used to express hypothetical situations in the past.

To form the conjugation, you need the auxiliary verbs être or avoir conjugated in the conditionnel, and the past participle of the main verb.

Example:

Je t’aurais trouvé à l’aéroport. 

Elle ne serait pas arrivée si tôt.

This table displays the three types of conditional. It shows the formulas to follow and an example as a reference that you can use as a model. 

• Conditional tenses are used to express what happens under certain circumstances.
  
  
• Conditionals have an if clause and a main clause.
  
  
  

Hypothèse éventuelle.

• This type of conditional is used to express possible condition and result based on real conditions in the present.
  
  
• The si clause is in présent, and the main clause can be in présent, futur or impératif.
  
  

Example:

Si tu as le temps, tu étudies.

Si tu as le temps, tu étudieras.

Si tu as le temps, étudie.

Hypothèse irréele au présent.

• This Conditional is used to refer to a hypothetical situation and its possible result. Something that isn’t real in the present but it expresses how it would be if it was. 
  
  
• The si clause is in imparfait, and the main clause is in the conditionnel.
  
  

Example:

Si tu avais le temps, tu étudierais.

Hypothèse irréele au passé.

• This Conditional is used to refer to an unreal past condition and its possible result. 
  
  
• The si clause is in plus-que-parfait, and the main clause is in the  conditionnel passé.
  
  

Example:

Si tu avais eu le temps, tu aurais étudié.

In French, it is essential to know where the pronouns go in the sentence, especially when there is more than one pronoun. 

This table gives you a guide of the pronoun placement in a sentence. 

The third page in your card has eight tables related to the subjonctif.

The first table at the top shows you how to form the subjonctif in the present.

You already know the conjugation of the present for nous with verbs that end with –ER, –IR and –RE.

Parler – nous parlons

Finir – nous finissons

Vendre – nous vendons

Take the stem from that conjugation and add the ending shown on the table.

Parl – je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlions, vous parliez, ils parlent.

Finiss – je finisse, tu finisses, il finisse, nous finissions, vous finissiez, ils finissent

Vend – je vende, tu vendes, il vende, nous vendions, vous vendiez, ils vendent

• Le subjonctif is a mode that is used when you want to express doubt, desire, order, suppositions, uncertainty, possibility or judgements.
  
  
  
• It often has two different persons; I would like you to…
  
  

Example:

Je veux que tu saches.

• When the main clause ends with qui or que.
  
  

Example:

Il faut que je parte.

• It’s also used with some conjunctions, especially the ones that link a cause and an effect. There have to be two different persons to use the subjunctif; otherwise, you use the infinitive.
  
  

Example:

Je étudie beaucoup afin de recevoir de bonnes notes. One person

Il crie pour que tu l’entendes. 

There is also a table with seven extremely irregular verbs and their conjugation in subjonctif. Just like all the cards, it follows the colour-coded system.

In your card, you’ll see another table called AVEC DEUX RACINES. This table shows six examples of verbs with two roots.

A root that is applied to je, tu, il, elle, on, ils and elles

And another root that is applied to nous and vous.

Example:

CROIRE –  elle croie – nous croyions

LE SUBJONCTIF PASSÉ

The next table below shows you the conjugation for the subjonctif passé.

To form the subjonctif passé, you need to use the verb avoir or être in subjonctif + the past participle of the verb.

Just like the subjonctif in présent, it is used when you have specific conjunctions, or to express doubt, desire, order, suppositions, uncertainty, a possibility or judgements, but about something that happened in the past.

The first clause can be in présent or imperfait; the second clause is in subjonctif.

Example:

Je doute qu’il ait fini ses devoirs.

Je doutais qu’il ait fini ses devoirs.

Next, you will see a table with 24 examples of verbs to express uncertainty desire, feelings, doubt, orders and some conjunctions that need the subjonctif.

IMPARFAIT DU SUBJONCTIF

The next table at the bottom of your card displays the conjugation for the imparfait du subjonctif.

It gives you three different endings for each person.

1. Verbs that end in -ER – asse, -asses, -ât, -assions, -assiez, -assent 

2. Verbs that end in -IR, and -RE -isse, -isses, -ît, -issions, -issiez, -issent 

3. Verbs that end in -OIR and -OIRE  -usse, -usses, -ût, -ussions, -ussiez, -ussent

The imperfait du subjonctif is generally used in formal writing and for narration. You will not be using it much, but you should be able to recognise it.

LE PLUS-QUE-PARFAIT DU SUBJONCTIF

This is also a rare tense in French, you will not be using it much, but you will have to know how to recognise it. It is used in formal writing and literature, history texts and journalism.

To form it you need to use the auxiliary verbs être or avoir and the past participle of the verb.

AVOIR – eusse, eusses, eût, eussions, eussiez, eussent

ÊTRE – fusse, fusses, fût, fussions, fussiez, fussent

• Discours indirect is used when you want to report what someone else has said.
  
  
• When you don’t use the speaker’s exact words, you need to transform the direct speech into discours indirect.
  
  
• Your table shows you the changes that need to happen in nice different tenses.
  
  
• Note that when you use reported speech, you need to change pronouns, tense, place and time expressions.

The table in your card shows you clear examples of what tense you need to change the direct sentence to.

Time expressions also change.

Example:

Discourse direct: « Je l’attendrai demain. »

 Discours indirect: Il a dit qu’il l’attendrait le lendemain.

Your card has a table with 14 useful expressions in the direct and the indirect form.

• The Passive Voice is used when the person doing the action is not important, but the action itself.
  
  
• To form the Passive Voice you need to use the verb être and the verb in participe passé.
  
  
• In the active voice, the subject and object become the object and subject respectively 
  
  
• The Passive Voice in your card shows the verb être conjugated in eight different tenses.
  
  

Example:

Présent

Active voice: L’élève fait les exercises.

Passive voice: Les exercises sont faits par l’élève  

In French, there are specific verbs that use the verb avoir and faire. These two tables give you 25 common verbs with faire and avoir.

This table shows 12 common expressions to give your opinion in a conversation.