Please help!

Chillwithcian

Passe compose really confuses me with all this etre/avoir auxeillery business and adding e for feminine nouns.. iregular past participles etc.... could someone please explain it to me in plain english cause my french teacher (mellurisment:() cant explain it very well. Merci!

Calina

[edit - I've just read your piece again]

Passé composé is the most commonly used past tense in French. By and large you will use it more often than any other past tense if you are speaking French.

It consists of either the verb to have or to be with a past participle.

This happens in English, eg I have done something, I have danced, I have cycled.

French differs slightly in that some verbs do not use the verb to have as the auxiliary verb, but the verb to be. This is not unlike Irish, eg Tá sé imithe.

Most of those verbs are verbs of movement, Je suis allé, je suis venu, for examples. You will find a list here. Verbs which also take the verb etre as an auxiliary are the reflexive verbs, eg se laver as in Je me suis lavé.

Is this clear?

As for agreements for those verbs that use etre as an auxiliary verb, you must use agreements like you do for adjectives.

Agreements for verbs using avoir as an auxiliary is a little more complex so I think you should get your head around the bit above.

Like in English, there are irregular participles (think of "been" and "gone" for example). Like in English, the ones in French just have to be learned.

Chillwithcian

Calina wrote:

Cian,

you're asking an awful lot there - there's a fair whack of French grammar going on there that can't be covered in a couple of lines. I need to know what exactly it is you don't understand.

For the feminisation of adjectives, it's a fundamentally simple rule: apart from some irregularities, you put an e on the end of the adjective if it is describing a feminine noun. The issue for English speakers is having to learn which ones are feminine and which ones are masculine. Reading a lot of French is about the easiest way to do it, bar learning things by heart.

Irregular past participles exist in most languages.

Basically, you have to learn them. There is no formula.

Ultimately, my problem is that you have some issues with French grammar, hardly surprising since most people in this country haven't even done any English grammar making it difficult for them to get to grips with another grammar, not knowing the concepts.

What is it that you don't understand about irregular past participles?

what is it that is confusing you about auxiliary verbs?

If you come back to me with a response that goes "everything", I can't help you. If on the other hand, you come back with examples of things you got wrong, and don't understand why, we have a better chance of figuring stuff out.

Sorry i should have been more specific,

1.I keep getting confused about which auxeilleries go with which verbs EG is it 'Je suis alle' or 'Jai alle'. How do you know wheather to use avoir or etre?
2. Does the add an e rule only apply to feminine nouns with etre or does avoir use it too?
3. How do you change a IR verb in the present tense like finIR into passe compose?

Thank you for your help

dcm

1.I keep getting confused about which auxeilleries go with which verbs EG is it 'Je suis alle' or 'Jai alle'. How do you know wheather to use avoir or etre?


well french ppl think different i guess, maybe something like how we can say: they have gone and they are gone


2. Does the add an e rule only apply to feminine nouns with etre or does avoir use it too?

i think it happens also on avoir, not too sure about those actually. :eek:


3. How do you change a IR verb in the present tense like finIR into passe compose?

well learn the verbs that end in IR, so that u can recognize them without the need for the IR, then u can get used to the endings by reading french text.. etc.

nervous_twitch

1.I keep getting confused about which auxeilleries go with which verbs EG is it 'Je suis alle' or 'Jai alle'. How do you know wheather to use avoir or etre?

There is a list (Linked in #2). In general, verbs of physical movement take the auxillary 'etre' - so, to go, is 'je suis allé'

Em, and as for IR verbs; just drop the r!! As in, J'ai Fini. However, you might want to keep an eye out for the irregulars.

tolosenc

Just be warned:
Je suis allé = I went, NOT I have gone. Different thing alltogether. (I have gone is essentially present tense, and that construction doesn't as such exist in French.)

Verbs done with etre - all reflexives(ie: se lever - Je me suis levé(e)) and 16 verbs generally related to movement.

ONLY FOR ETRE
The additional 'e' goes in if Je/Tu/Nous/Vous is feminine(in the nous/vous cases, they must be exclusively female) or with Elle/Elles always. The 's' goes in for all of the plurals. The e always goes first if two are used.

Steffano2002

Calina wrote:

Passé composé is the most commonly used past tense in French. By and large you will use it more often than any other past tense if you are speaking French.

Nobody in France actually uses this tense when they speak... Unless we're talking politicians interviewed on TV...

The Passé Simple is only used when writing in French, rarely when speaking.