How do you change a sentence to past tense in French?

To change a sentence to past tense in French, you primarily use the Passé Composé for completed actions or events at a specific time, or the Imparfait for ongoing actions, habits, or descriptions in the past.

Understanding French Past Tenses

French utilizes several past tenses, but the Passé Composé and the Imparfait are the most common for transforming present-tense sentences into the past. Each serves a distinct purpose, providing nuance to your narrative.

The Passé Composé

The Passé Composé translates to the simple past or present perfect in English (e.g., "I ate," "I have eaten"). It's used for actions that were completed at a specific point in the past.

Structure:

The Passé Composé is a compound tense, meaning it's formed with two parts:

1. An auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) conjugated in the present tense.
2. The past participle of the main verb.

1. Choosing the Auxiliary Verb:

• Avoir: Most verbs use avoir as their auxiliary verb.
  • Example: J'ai mangé (I ate)
• Être: A smaller group of verbs, primarily those of movement, change of state, and reflexive verbs, use être. These are often remembered by acronyms like DR MRS VANDERTRAMP.
  • Example: Je suis allé (I went)

2. Forming the Past Participle:

The formation of the past participle depends on the verb's ending:

• Regular -er verbs: Drop the final -er from the infinitive form and replace it with é.
  • Example: manger (to eat) becomes mangé
  • Example: nager (to swim) becomes nagé
  • Example: jouer (to play) becomes joué
• Regular -ir verbs: Drop the final -ir from the infinitive form and replace it with i.
  • Example: choisir (to choose) becomes choisi
• Regular -re verbs: Drop the final -re from the infinitive form and replace it with u.
  • Example: vendre (to sell) becomes vendu
• Irregular verbs: Many common verbs have irregular past participles that must be memorized (e.g., faire -> fait, voir -> vu, dire -> dit).

Here's a quick reference for regular past participle formation:

3. Past Participle Agreement (with être):

When être is the auxiliary verb, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence.

• Elle est allée. (She went) - allée is feminine singular
• Ils sont partis. (They left) - partis is masculine plural
• Elles sont venues. (They came) - venues is feminine plural

Examples of Passé Composé in Sentences:

• Present: Je mange une pomme. (I eat an apple.)
  • Past (Passé Composé): J'ai mangé une pomme. (I ate an apple.)
• Present: Elle va au magasin. (She goes to the store.)
  • Past (Passé Composé): Elle est allée au magasin. (She went to the store.)
• Present: Nous finissons le travail. (We finish the work.)
  • Past (Passé Composé): Nous avons fini le travail. (We finished the work.)

For more on the Passé Composé, you can refer to resources like Kwiziq's explanation of the Passé Composé.

The Imparfait

The Imparfait (Imperfect) describes ongoing actions, habits, or descriptions in the past. It conveys the idea of "used to," "was/were -ing," or simply a past state without a defined beginning or end.

Structure:

The Imparfait is a simple tense (not compound). To form it:

1. Take the nous (we) form of the present tense of the verb.
2. Drop the -ons ending.
3. Add the Imparfait endings:
   • -ais (je)
   • -ais (tu)
   • -ait (il/elle/on)
   • -ions (nous)
   • -iez (vous)
   • -aient (ils/elles)

Examples of Imparfait in Sentences:

• Present: Je mange une pomme chaque jour. (I eat an apple every day.)
  • Past (Imparfait): Je mangeais une pomme chaque jour. (I used to eat an apple every day.)
• Present: Il est grand. (He is tall.)
  • Past (Imparfait): Il était grand. (He was tall.)
• Present: Nous lisons des livres. (We read books.)
  • Past (Imparfait): Nous lisions des livres. (We were reading books / We used to read books.)

Learn more about the Imparfait usage and formation on sites like ThoughtCo.

Choosing Between Passé Composé and Imparfait

The choice between Passé Composé and Imparfait depends entirely on the context and the meaning you wish to convey:

• Passé Composé: For specific, completed actions or events.
  • Hier, j'ai vu un film. (Yesterday, I saw a movie.)
• Imparfait: For descriptions, habitual actions, or ongoing actions in the past.
  • Quand j'étais jeune, je regardais beaucoup de films. (When I was young, I used to watch a lot of movies.)
  • Il faisait beau. (It was beautiful weather.)

By understanding the formation and usage of both the Passé Composé and Imparfait, you can accurately transform sentences into the past tense in French, conveying both completed actions and ongoing situations.