8A.1- Le Passé Composé vs L’Imparfait

Determining whether or not you should employ PC or IMP is one of the most difficult concepts in the level 2 program.  

Why is this?  What needs to be considered when determining which tense to use?  

Did you understand the comic illustration above?  What do you think the text is stating?  Can you identify the verbs in Passé Composé?  Can you find the verb constructed in the imparfait?

Let's break this text down:

Et puis j'ai entendu un grand bruit 

                And then I HEARD a loud noise

et quand je me suis retourné

               And when I TURNED around

il n’était plus là

              He WAS  no longer there.

Of these three segments, which ones express specific actions which occurred?

Of these three segments, which one expressed a physical state or condition?

In order to begin to understand how to determine whether or not to use PC or IMP, these are the types of questions you will need to ask yourself.  

You need to consider meaning, purpose, and context of a statement.

This site does a terrific job of breaking down the difference between usage of PC vs IMP:

PC vs IMP

AND Don't Forget:  You also have the very extensive PC/IMP packets that I gave to you at the end of the school year.  Please use these and check in with me regularly via email to ensure that you are properly grasping these concepts.

To ensure success in mastering this skill,  consider the following:

-Set a deadline.  Review the textbook sequence of information in the unit and set a goal to learn the information by a set date.  

- Take some time to practice the concepts in this unit each day, little by little, until you have mastered them.

- Present yourself with a self-check:  Take a quizlet test to see if you've retained the vocabulary.  Try to conjugate for all subjects for the new verb conjugations.  Find  online activities that focus on these skills.  

- Check in with me.  Send me an email with practice sentences that you've written and/or recorded.  Send me a draft of your practice draft to the Presentational Writing Prompt.   Of course, feel free to ask me questions about content that you are having difficulty understanding.  Just please  remember to use my work email when you contact me!

7B.2- L'Imparfait

What does IMPARFAIT serve to communicate?

How is the IMPARFAIT formed?

Writing Excercises to practice IMPARFAIT

7A.1- Le Passé Composé Avec Être

Le Passé Composé Avec Être

If you recall, le passé composé is a past tense used to describe specific, completed actions.  Most of the time, AVOIR is used as the helping verb.  For some verbs, however, you cannot use AVOIR.  This post is dedicated to those verbs which take Être.

French students often learn the acronym "DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP" to memorize the short list of verbs which use Être as the helping verb.  Those verbs are illustrated in the image above.  Below, you will also see these verbs listed in acronym form.

If you look at the image above, you will see two columns.  The left-hand column shows the infinitive of the verb, while the right-hand column shows the past participle.  If you look closely, you will notice that for each of the past participles, there is "(e)(s)" which follow.    Do you remember seeing this when constructing the past particple of verbs which take AVOIR?  

Here's a little song to help you memorize them: 

The most important thing that you must realize when you construct statements in PC w/  Être: 

 PAST PARTICIPLE AGREES IN NUMBER AND GENDER WITH THE SUBJECT.  

STILL CONFUSED?!!!

OK-  Check out this video and see if it provides you with any clarity:

For further explanation and practice using pc with ETRE, try the following activities:

PC with ETRE

When you feel comfortable enough with this skill, give the following activity a try  this Pre Test .  Send me a pic of your results and let me know how it's going for you!

6B.1- Object Pronouns: Direct and Indirect

In Level 1, you learned how to identify Subject Pronouns.  If you recall, subject pronouns describe who/what does the action of the statement.  They are always linked to the verb.  

Take a look at the image above.  How do Subject and Object pronouns DIFFER?

The object pronoun-  Does it describe who/what is DOING the action, or does it describe who/what RECEIVES the action?

Take a look at the following example:

J'aime le foot.  =  I like soccer.

What answers the following question:  "Qui aime le foot?" (WHO likes soccer?)

The answer:   Moi, J'aime le foot.   (ME, I like soccer.)

Now, what answers the following question:  "Qu'est-ce que j'aime?  (WHAT do I like?)

The answer:   J'aime le foot.

Do you notice the difference in identifying the subject vs the object in the statements above?

The OBJECT Pronoun- is the person or thing which RECEIVES the action.

____________________________________________

What is the difference between a Direct and Indirect Object Pronoun?  

To gain an understanding of the difference between direct and indirect, take a look at the following videos.  While you are watching, ask yourself to reflect upon what you have viewed.  Take notes to summarize your understanding, and try some practice statements on your own.

When you are done learning about Direct and Indirect Objects, you should be able to differentiate between a direct and indirect object pronoun.

DIRECT OBJECTS-  me/te/nous/vous/le/la/les/l'

Here is a video tutorial which will explain DIRECT OBJECTS  in greater detail.  You may need to slow down the video or replay segments and try the statements until you get a better grasp of this!

Once you think you've got a good idea of the COD- try these self-correcting exercises:
COD practice sentencces

INDIRECT OBJECTS-  me/te/nous/vous/lui/leur

Here is a video tutorial which will explain INDIRECT OBJECTS  in greater detail.

Here are some COI practice sentences to see if you can do this on your own:
COI practice statements

OK-  So, can you differentiate between COD and COI?  What is the difference?  How do you know when to use COD?  When do you use COI?

To SUMMARIZE:

	Question: Qui? quoi? (Whom? What?)	Question: A qui? (To whom?)
Sujet	Pronoms objet direct	Pronoms objet indirect
je	Mes parents m'aiment.	Mes parents me donnent de l'argent.
tu	Tes parents t'aiment.	Tes parents te donnent de l'argent.
il	Ses parents le critiquent.	Ses parents ne lui donnent pas d'argent.
elle	Ses parents la critiquent.	Ses parents ne lui donnent pas d'argent.
nous	Nos professeurs nous comprennent.	Nos professeurs nous donnent des explications.
vous	Vos amis vous respectent.	Vos amis vous donnent des cadeaux. (gifts)
ils	Leurs grands-parents les invitent.	Leurs grands-parents leur parlent espagnol.
elles	Leurs grands-parents les invitent.	Leurs grands-parents leur parlent espagnol.

Test your knowledge by trying the following activity.  Can you determine whether to use COD/COI?  Practice TEST on COD/COI


HOW DID YOU DO?  Let me know by sending me a pic of your results!  If you still don't understand object pronouns, keep working on acquiring the skill.  Seek out other video or online activities.  Keep up the hard work and your efforts will pay off!

6A.2 Talking About the Past- Le Passé Composé

Le Passé Composé

To talk about the past, you will need to learn how to use and form two verb tenses-  Le Passé Composé and L'Imparfait.

To begin this process, let's begin with Passé Composé. 

Essential Questions:

• What is the   passé composé ? 
• How is it used?  
• How is it constructed?

Qu'est-ce que c'est, Le Passé Composé?

This verb tense is used to express actions or states of being that have been completed in the past.  When considering usage of this tense, you should think:  What happenened?  Just give me the facts.  

To give you a better explanation of this tense, take a look at the following tutorial:

For further explanation and some practice using pc with avoir, check out the following site:

PC with Avoir

Apart from this blogsite, there are tons of resources on this extremely valuable skill.  By far, PC and Imp are the most essential elements of the Level 2 curriculum.  You MUST be able to demonstrate strong proficiency in using and applying these tenses in order to skip to level 3.  

 Don't forget that you have the PC /IMP packets that I gave you at the end of the school year.  These will be extremely helpful in practicing these verb tense skills.

To ensure success in mastering this skill,  consider the following:

-Set a deadline.  Review the textbook sequence of information in the unit and set a goal to learn the information by a set date.  

- Take some time to practice the concepts in this unit each day, little by little, until you have mastered them.

- Present yourself with a self-check:  Take a quizlet test to see if you've retained the vocabulary.  Try to conjugate for all subjects for the new verb conjugations.  Find  online activities that focus on these skills.  

- Check in with me.  Send me an email with practice sentences that you've written and/or recorded.  Send me a draft of your practice draft to the Presentational Writing Prompt.   Of course, feel free to ask me questions about content that you are having difficulty understanding.  Just please  remember to use my work email when you contact me!

6A.1 Demonstrative Adjectives

Ce / Cet / Cette / Ces

The demonstrative adjective is used to point out a specific noun.  

Take a look at these statements and see if you can figure out the English equivalent:

(La soupe de papa ours)          Cette soupe est trop chaude!  

(La soupe de maman ours)     Cette soupe est trop froide!

(La soupe de bébé  ours)    Cette soupe est parfaite!

How would you translate the word, "cette", in the statements above?  How do you think the sentence would change if the word was changed to "la" or "une"?  

Did you determine that "cette" meant " this"?  If so, you are correct!  

Check out the following ways demonstratives can be used:

Je suis Chuck Norris et j'approuve ce message!

Tu aimes mieux  cette robe bleue ou cette robe blanche?

 

Based upon the images and captions, can you tell how to determine when and how to use Ce / Cet/ Cette / Ces?

See if you can determine which of the demonstrative adjectives - Ce/Cet/Cette/Ces- you would use for the following:

________  étudiant         ________  étudiante            ________  étudiants           ________  étudiantes

Check your responses against the correct answers:

cet   étudiant            cette  étudiante                         ces  étudiants                 ces étudiantes

Did you get each of them correct?  If so, how could you summarize  how to determine usage and construction of the demonstrative adjective?