Le passé composé

In this module, most finished actions use the passé composé. It is very common in spoken and everyday written French for events like “the concert started” or “I found the cat.” The basic pattern is present avoir or être + a past participle, for example j’ai cherché or il est tombé.

Use it for single completed events in the past: Le concert a commencé. / J’ai entendu la trompette. A useful time phrase is il y a dix minutes = “ten minutes ago”: Je l’ai mise là il y a dix minutes.

With negatives, put ne... pas around the helper verb: je n’ai pas trouvé Félix, il n’est pas venu. Keep the past participle after pas.

At A1 level, learn whole chunks first. You do not need every participle yet, but the pattern is important: a commencé, a crié, a touché, a trouvé, est tombé.

Des participes passés utiles

Some very common verbs have irregular past participles. Useful regular and irregular forms in this module include vu (seen), entendu (heard), trouvé (found), allé (gone), and venu (come). Learn them as fixed chunks with the helper verb.

Examples from the story: J’ai vu une ombre., Je l’ai entendue., Je n’ai pas trouvé Félix., Je suis allé dans la cour., Je suis venu pour les photos. These forms are much more useful than learning long verb lists.

Negatives still go around the helper verb: je n’ai pas vu, je n’ai pas entendu, je ne suis pas venu. The participle stays after pas.

When the learner is the speaker with être verbs, the form changes for gender: je suis allé for a man, je suis allée for a woman. That is why learner lines must sometimes show both forms.

Événements au passé

For story events, French often uses short action verbs in the passé composé: a commencé, est tombé, a crié, a touché. These are perfect for reporting what happened, step by step.

With many verbs, French uses avoir: j’ai crié, quelque chose a touché ma jambe. Some movement or change verbs use être: le tambour est tombé. At this level, it is enough to learn the common ones from the story.

A direct object can come before the verb in sentences like Je l’ai entendue. Then the past participle may agree in writing. Here l’ replaces la trompette, so we write entendue with -e. This is useful to notice, but at A1 you can first learn the full chunk.

Keep past reporting simple: one clause for one event. Example: Les lumières se sont éteintes. Julien a joué. Thomas a dansé.

Imparfait ou passé composé ?

This module also uses a small amount of the imperfect, mainly for background, repeated habits, or description: c’était très sombre, j’étais là, il dormait, il adorait la scène. This sets the scene.

Use the passé composé for the main event that happened and moved the story forward: les lumières se sont éteintes, j’ai vu une ombre, le tambour est tombé. A simple way to think about it is background vs event.

Compare: J’étais au festival. Les lumières se sont éteintes. First, where you were; then, what happened. Or: Mamie dormait. Zoé a pris une photo. Sleeping is the background state; taking the photo is the action.

At A1, do not build long complicated past sentences. Short combinations are enough: C’était sombre et Thomas a crié.

Le futur proche et les lettres

For plans and intentions, this module prefers the futur proche: present aller + infinitive. It is simple and very common in everyday French. Example: Je vais écrire à Anna.

You can use it for near future plans and predictions: Le concert va commencer à huit heures, Je vais acheter un timbre demain, Nous allons regarder les photos ensemble. This is easier at A1 than the full future tense.

The postcard at the end uses very simple letter language: Chère Anna, then short past sentences, then a future plan, and finally Salut ! Bien à toi. These are useful chunks.

Je voudrais is also common in French, but here it is a polite chunk for requests, not a future form.

If you see a more advanced fixed expression in a real letter, learn it as a whole chunk. But for this course, short clear models are enough.