french past tenses
Terms
undefined, object
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- background information (what the weather was like, what people were doing, what was going on, setting & time frame)
- l'imparfait
-
habitual, repetitive action (describe/state past events that were repeated for an unspecified period or number of times)
key words: souvent, d'habitude, chaque semaine, toujours, tous les jours, tous les lundis, etc.
- l'imparfait
-
conditions or states of mind (to describe states or conditions that continued over an unspecified period of time)
key words: savoir, connaître, penser, être, avoir, vouloir, pouvoi, aimer, détester
- l'imparfait
-
continuous actions (to describe how things were or to describe an action that was going on when another action -in the passé composé- interrupted it
- l'imparfait
-
venir de + infinitive (to describe an action that had just happened)
- l'imparfait
- inviting someone to do something
- l'imparfait
-
suggesting a course of action
- l'imparfait
-
expressing a wish or regret
- l'imparfait
-
completed, isolated action
- passé composé
- action completed in a specified period of time
-
passé composé
-
action that happened a specific number of times
- passé composé
-
series of events
- passé composé
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change in state or condition
- passé composé
-
je savais
-
i knew
-
je pouvais
-
i could/was able
- je voulais
-
i wanted (to)
-
j'ai su
-
i found out
-
j'ai pu
-
i succeeded in
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j'ai voulu
-
i tried to
- je n'ai pas voulu
-
i refused to
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primarily used in narration to report events that had already happened or had been completed before another past event took place
- plus-que-parfait
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il avait dit...
(he had said...)
- plus-que-parfait
-
il a dit...
(he said/has said/did say...)
- passé composé
-
il disait...
(he said/was saying/used to say...)
- l'imparfait
-
il venait de dire...
(he had just said...)
-
venir (imparfait) de + infinitive
-
il disait... depuis...
(he had been saying... for...)
-
imparfait + depuis
-
expresses a wish or regret about pas events
-
plus-que-parfait + si
si seulement j'avais gagné...