Revision of the Past Tenses
So far in ths course, we have studied 5 past tenses:
| The Imperfect |
Je mangeais |
I was eating |
| The Present Perfect |
J'ai mangé |
I have eaten |
| The Past Perfect |
J'avais mangé |
I had eaten |
| The Recent Past |
Je viens de manger |
I have just finished eating |
| The Past Simple |
Je mangeai |
I ate |
We can organise these 5 tenses in order of further in the past to
present:
| Past Perfect |
J'avais étudié |
I had studeid |
| Past Simple |
J'étudiai |
I studied |
| The Imperfect |
J'étudiais |
I was studying |
| Present Perfect |
J'ai étudié |
I have studied |
| Recent Past |
Je viens d'étudier |
I have just finished studying |
We are going to revise the characteristics of each of these tenses:
a) Past Perfect: describes an action that developed
and finished in the past some time ago. It is accompanied by another
past tense, so that the action described by the past perfect has ended
when other action happened:
| J'avais étudié quand elle est arrivée |
I had studied when she arrived
(the action of studying has already finished) |
|
|
| Nous étions arrivés quand le progamme
a commencé |
We had arrived when the programme
began |
b) Past Simple: describes an action that developed
and finished in the past some time ago. It is a tense that is hardly
ever used in spoken langauge. It is usually found in written langauge,
particularly literary books:
| L'autre jour, je jouai au tennis |
The other day I played tennis
(in spoken French, they would have used the present perfect:
"L'autre jour, j'ai joué au tennis") |
|
|
| Le dernier été, je fus à Paris |
Last summer, I was in Paris.
|
c) The Imperfect: describes an action that develops
in the past but does not indiciate if it has finished or not. A frequent
use of this tense is accompanied by another verb in the past, indicating
that the action was developing when this last action took place:
| Je mangeais quand il
est arrivé |
I was eating when he arrived
(the action of eating was developing when the other person arrived) |
|
|
| Elle étudiait quand le téléphone a sonné |
He was studying when the phone
rang (the imperfect does not indicate if the action of studying
has finished yet or is still developing) |
d) Present Perfect: describes an action that has
developed in the past and which has just recently finished:
| Aujourd'hui J'ai déjà mangé |
Today I have eaten (only
recently have I stopped eating) |
|
|
| Le cours a fini ce samedi |
The course has finished (finished)
this Saturday (this Saturday is considered a relatively near
point in time) |
e) Recent Past: with this tense you describe an
action that has just finished:
| Je viens de manger |
I have just finished eating
(I have just now finished eating) |
|
|
| Elle vient de jouer |
She has just finished playing
|
VOCABULARY
The construction
| Construction |
Construction (f) |
Plaster |
Plâtre (m) |
| Crane |
Grue (f) |
Asphalt |
Asphalte (m) |
| Architect |
Architecte (m) |
Painter |
Peintre (m) |
| Workman |
Maçon (m) |
Electrician |
Électricien (m) |
| Cement |
Ciment (m) |
Plumber |
Plombier (m) |
| Concrete |
Béton (m) |
Cement |
Ciment (m) |
| Brick |
Brique (f) |
Slab |
Dalle (f) |
| Column |
Colonne (f) |
Pipe |
Tuyauterie (f) |
| Beam |
Poutre (f) |
Plot |
Terrain à bâtir(m) |
| Facade |
Façade (f) |
Crack |
Crevasse (f) |
| Roof |
Toit (m) |
Leak |
Fuite d'eau(f) |
| Scaffolding |
Échafaudage (m) |
Tile |
Carreau de faïence (m) |
