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Unit 1 · 5 lessons

Le temps: Future Perfect, Past Infinitive and the Passé Simple

Control time across a whole text: the futur antérieur for what will be finished, the future after quand and dès que, the infinitif passé for thanks and sequence, the passé simple you meet in books and history, and full past narration in news, biography and story.

  • 48 practice questions
  • 39 flashcards
  • 1 interactive lesson
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Lessons

  1. 1The Futur AntérieurThe future seen from further ahead: how to say what will already be done by a deadline, built from the futur of avoir or être plus a past participle, with the same auxiliary and agreement rules as the passé composé, plus its less obvious use for guessing about the past.10 questions
  2. 2Quand, dès que, aussitôt que: the Future after Time ConjunctionsWhy French puts a future tense after quand, dès que and aussitôt que where English uses a present, when the earlier action needs the futur antérieur, what the main clause can be, and where the rule stops: si meaning if, habits, and questions.9 questions
  3. 3The Infinitif PasséAvoir or être in the infinitive plus a past participle: the form behind après avoir fini, merci de m'avoir aidé and désolé de ne pas avoir répondu. How it shows that one action came first, who its subject is, where negation and pronouns go, and how its participle agrees.10 questions
  4. 4Recognizing the Passé SimpleThe literary past of novels, tales, history and formal biography: where you meet it, the four ending patterns (a, i, u, in), the irregular forms that matter most, the look-alikes that fool readers, the passé antérieur, and how to retell a passé simple text in the passé composé.9 questions
  5. 5Full Past Narration: News, Biography and StoryPutting every past tense to work in one text: the passé composé for events, the imparfait for background, the plus-que-parfait for what had already happened, the passé simple recognised in published texts, the time expressions that steer each choice, and the markers that organise a news report, a biography or an autobiography.Interactive10 questions