The passé composé with avoir

Vocabulary

Words 401 to 411

Review session

Crossword review session

Cross the words you just met, clued in English. Slower than a drill, and it sticks harder.

Vocabulary

Words 412 to 421

Review session

Word Bubbles review session

Pop the words you just met by matching each one to its meaning. A couple of rounds and the batch is yours.

Vocabulary

Words 422 to 432

Grammar primer

The passé composé with avoir

J'ai parlé, I spoke or I have spoken: avoir in the present plus a past participle, and the regular participles -é, -i, -u.

Grammar primer

Été, eu, fait: irregular past participles

The participles that break the -é, -i, -u pattern: été, eu and fait first, then vu, lu, pris, mis, dit and écrit, learnt by their endings.

Grammar primer

Je n'ai pas mangé: the past in the negative

Ne and pas wrap avoir, and the participle comes last: je n'ai pas mangé, nous n'avons jamais vu le film, elle n'a rien dit.

Vocabulary

Words 433 to 442

Common mistake

entendre or écouter?

The same distinction as voir and regarder, moved to the ears.

Vocabulary

Words 443 to 454

Review session

Conjugation Sprint review session

Sixty seconds on the endings of the verbs this chapter has drilled so far.

Vocabulary

Words 455 to 464

Grammar primer

avoir or être: choosing the auxiliary

Most verbs take avoir. About seventeen verbs of movement and change, aller, venir, arriver, partir, rester, tomber and the rest, take être: je suis allé.

Grammar primer

Elle est allée: agreement with être

With être the participle agrees with the subject like an adjective: elle est allée, ils sont partis. With avoir it does not: elle a mangé.

Grammar primer

Je suis sorti, j'ai sorti le sac

Six être verbs take avoir when they have a direct object, and the meaning shifts: je suis sorti (I went out), j'ai sorti le sac (I took the bag out).

Vocabulary

Words 465 to 474

Review session

Word Bubbles review session

Pop the words you just met by matching each one to its meaning. A couple of rounds and the batch is yours.

Vocabulary

Words 475 to 484

Grammar primer

Comparatives

plus / moins / aussi + adjective + que: plus grand que moi. The adjective still agrees with its noun.

Grammar primer

Plus de livres, autant que moi: comparing nouns and verbs

With a noun the marker takes de (plus de temps); with a verb it stands alone (il dort plus). And as much is autant, not aussi.

Grammar primer

Meilleur, mieux, pire: better and worse

Plus bon is meilleur, plus bien is mieux. Meilleur describes a thing and agrees; mieux describes an action and never changes.

Vocabulary

Words 485 to 494

Review session

Conjugation Sprint review session

Sixty seconds on the endings of the verbs this chapter has drilled so far.

Vocabulary

Words 495 to 500

Read a story

Story milestone: top 500 words

You can read this story using only the words you've learned so far. Every content word sits at or above the rank-500 ceiling.

Themed review

Parler et écouter

Asking, answering and being understood. demander is to ask, and to ask for - asking a question is poser une question, which is the trap here.

Arcade review

Arcade review

Replay this chapter's words as games - a different kind of repetition, and it counts.