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When do I use the perfect or imperfect tense?

When talking about the past in French, the two commonly used tenses are the passé composé and the imparfait . It is important to consider which of these tenses to use, otherwise you may not be communicating ...
HL
Answered by Hannah L. • French tutor
2056 Views

How do I choose between using the perfect or the imperfect tense?

Both the perfect (passé composé) and imperfect (imparfait) are past tenses. However, which tense you use depends on the "type" of past action you are trying to convey. Below are the differences, wh...
Answered by • French tutor
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Which of the following sentences are grammatically incorrect, and why? 1) Elle lui a dit de la laisser car elle est fâché, 2) Elle l'a dit de la laisser car elle est fâchée, or 3) Elle lui a dit de la laisser car elle est fâchée?

3 is the only correct sentence. 1 is incorrect because the adjective 'fâché' does not agree with the gender of the noun (in this case a person) that it describes. As the subject 'elle' is feminine, the adjec...
RL
Answered by Robert L. • French tutor
2722 Views

When do you use "être" and when "avoir" to form the past perfect in French?

The general rule is that "être" is used as the auxiliary verb in the past tense for verbs of movement and which are intransitive, i.e. cannot be followed by an object without a preposition : "...
MA
Answered by Michael A. • French tutor
1948 Views

How do I form the subjunctive?

The subjunctive is used as a ‘mood’ to express a phrase or sentence which contains an element of doubt, or uncertainty, prompted by the use of the word QUE. In English, this may be “I expect something will h...
ZS
Answered by Zoe S. • French tutor
2027 Views