Learn how to talk about something in the past
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric. |
| Yasmine: And I'm Yasmine. |
| Eric: And welcome to Must-Know French Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 14. Talking About the Past. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for talking about something in the past. |
| PATTERN |
| Eric: For example, "I went to the post office this morning." |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| Yasmine: [slow] Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| Eric: The pattern for talking about something in the past has 3 elements. First, the pronoun, in this case "I." |
| Yasmine: Je. |
| Eric: Second, the verb conjugated in the first person singular, feminine and perfect tense. In this case, "I went." |
| Yasmine: suis allée. |
| Eric: Third, the complement, in this case "to the post office this morning." |
| Yasmine: à la poste ce matin. |
| Eric: Altogether, we have "I went to the post office this morning." |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. [slow] Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. [normal] Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| Eric: First you have a pronoun, then a verb conjugated in the perfect tense. The writing of the verb varies depending on if the speaker is a man or a woman. Finally you have the complement. |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| Eric: So remember, to talk about something that happened in the past, start with a pronoun, then a verb in the past tense, and then the thing you want to talk about. |
| Eric: Here's another example meaning, "I went to the beach." First, the pronoun, in this case "I." |
| Yasmine: Je. |
| Eric: Second, the verb conjugated in the first person singular, feminine and perfect tense. In this case, "I went." |
| Yasmine: suis allée. |
| Eric: Third, the complement, in this case "to the beach." |
| Yasmine: à la plage. |
| Eric: Altogether we have... |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage. [slow] Je suis allée à la plage. [normal] Je suis allée à la plage. |
| Eric: "I went to the beach." |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage. |
| Eric: How do you say - "I went to the hairdresser's." To give you a hint, "to go to the hairdresser's" is... |
| Yasmine: aller chez le coiffeur. [slow] aller chez le coiffeur. [normal] aller chez le coiffeur. |
| Eric: "I went to the hairdresser's." |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. [slow] Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. [normal] Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. |
| REVIEW |
| Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I’ll give you the English equivalent of the phrase, and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud in French. Here we go. |
| Eric: "I went to the post office this morning." |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| Eric: "I went to the beach." |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage. |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la plage. |
| Eric: "I went to the hairdresser's." |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. |
| [pause] |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée chez le coiffeur. |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for talking about something in the past, as in... |
| Yasmine: Je suis allée à la poste ce matin. |
| Eric: meaning "I went to the post office this morning." |
| Eric: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out on FrenchPod101.com. Thanks, everyone, see you next time! |
| Yasmine: A la prochaine! |
41 Comments
HideWhat did you do last weekend?
Hier, je suis allée a la montagne. Je suis allée skier. Le météo, Il faisait très froid dans les montagnes hier. Oú les français skient habituellement?.
😁😁
Bonjour French Girl,
Could you perhaps explain in what ways the lesson was lacking? What made it so confusing?
As for the PDF, the lesson PDF is organized in sections and seems to be quite clear, while the lesson transcript PDF follows the audio of the lesson perfectly. Everything seems fine to me, I really have trouble pinpointing what the problem is here. If you could be a little more precise, I'd appreciate it!
Bonne journée,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
i get the point of it but the lesson was incomplete
the pdf was bad too
why?
parce que le pdf ce ne fait tell me about avoir and it le pdf was so twisted and confusing
Bonjour Denitsa,
Merci pour ton commentaire ! Tu as raison, il a fait beau le weekend passé. Moi aussi je suis allée me promener ! 😄
À bientôt,
Marion
Team FrenchPod101.com
Je suis allée me promener a l'extérieur. Il faisait beau le week-end.
Bonjour Marcela,
Merci beaucoup pour ce gentil message !😄
Il faut dire "mon dernier week-end".
Bon dimanche !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com
❤️️ J'ai adoré le cours. Merci d'avoir fait quelque chose de très bien et pour un prix accessible.
What did you do last weekend?
Mon derniére weekend je sui allée au cinema et J'assistée les adorables femmes.
Bonjour Maria !
Merci pour votre commentaire !
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À bientôt,
Levente
Team FrenchPod101.com
Bonjour Mia,
Thank you for your comment.
It is a metaphoric expression, meaning "overnight", "from one day to another".
Bon dimanche !
Marie Alice
Team FrenchPod101.com