Talking About Your Weekend in French - Exercises

Lesson Transcript

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Je suis (pause with a tap of the finger) à huit heures.

parti

Je suis parti à huit heures.

"I left at eight o'clock."

We use parti in this sentence because it's the past participle of partir, a movement verb that uses être in le passé composé.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Elle est (pause with a tap of the finger) tôt au café.

arrivée

Elle est arrivée tôt au café.

"She arrived early at the café."

We use arrivée in this sentence because arriver is a verb of movement and takes être. The past participle also agrees with elle, so that's why we say arrivée with an -e at the end.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Tu as (pause with a tap of the finger) ton petit-déjeuner ?

pris

Tu as pris ton petit-déjeuner ?

"Did you have breakfast?"

We use pris in this sentence because prendre is a common action verb that takes avoir in le passé composé.

Unscramble the words to make a sentence.

Ready?

Nous

Nous avons

Nous avons vu

Nous avons vu un

Nous avons vu un très

Nous avons vu un très bon

Nous avons vu un très bon film.

"We saw a really good movie."

Nous avons vu un très bon film.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Vous (êtes lu or avez lu) ce livre ?

avez lu

Vous avez lu ce livre ?

"Did you read that book?"

Avez lu is used here because lire uses avoir in le passé composé. With avoir, the past participle usually does not change unless there's a direct object before the verb.

Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready?

Elles sont (sorties or sorti) avec leurs amies.

sorties

Elles sont sorties avec leurs amies.

"They went out with their friends."

Sorties is used here because sortir takes être in le passé composé, and the past participle must agree with the subject. Since elles is feminine and plural, we add -es to make sorties.

Sorti would be incorrect because it's masculine singular.

Let's translate some sentences into French.

Translate "They entered the classroom." into French.

Let's assume "they" refers to a masculine or mixed group.

ils, the subject pronoun, meaning "they" (masculine or mixed group),

followed by

sont, the present tense of être, used here as the auxiliary verb in le passé composé,

entrés, the past participle of entrer, meaning "entered,"

which agrees with the plural subject ils by adding -s,

followed by

dans la salle de classe, meaning "into the classroom."

Sont entrés is used here because entrer is a movement verb, and verbs of movement use être in le passé composé. The past participle also agrees with the plural subject ils by adding -s.

Ils sont entrés dans la salle de classe.

"They entered the classroom."

Translate "I stayed at home all weekend." into French.

Here, let's assume the speaker is a woman.

je, the subject pronoun, meaning "I,"

followed by

suis, the present tense of être, used as the auxiliary verb in le passé composé,

restée, the past participle of rester, meaning "stayed,"

which ends in -ée to agree with a feminine speaker,

followed by

chez moi, meaning "at my place" or "at home,"

and finally

tout le week-end, meaning "all weekend."

Suis restée is used here because rester is a verb of state and uses être in le passé composé. The past participle takes an additional eto agree with a feminine subject.

Je suis restée chez moi tout le week-end.

"I stayed at home all weekend."

Translate "we finished our homework." into French.

on, an informal subject pronoun meaning "we,"

followed by

a, the third-person singular present tense of avoir, used as the auxiliary verb,

fini, the past participle of finir, meaning "finished,"

followed by

nos devoirs, meaning "our homework."

a fini is used here because finir is a regular -ir verb that uses avoir in le passé composé, and there's no agreement needed with the subject because it’s the verb avoir.

On a fini nos devoirs.

"We finished our homework."

Listen to me as I speak. Which passé composé form is used in the sentences?

Je suis parti à huit heures.

Let's listen one more time.

Je suis parti à huit heures.

Did you hear, suis parti?

Suis parti, meaning "I left," uses être in le passé composé because partir is a movement verb. The past participle also agrees with the subject, and because the subject is je (masculine singular), the past participle stays in its basic form: parti.

How about...?

Nous avons vu un très bon film.

Let's listen one more time.

Nous avons vu un très bon film.

Did you hear, avons vu?

Avons vu, meaning "we saw," uses avoir because voir is a common action verb that follows the standard passé composé structure.

Next…

Vous avez lu ce livre ?

One more time.

Vous avez lu ce livre ?

Did you hear, avez lu?

Avez lu, meaning "you read," also uses avoir in le passé composé because lire is not a movement or reflexive verb.

And...

On a fini nos devoirs.

One more time.

On a fini nos devoirs.

Did you hear, a fini?

A fini, meaning "finished," uses avoir in le passé composé. Finir is a regular verb and does not require agreement because of avoir verb.

Thank you for watching.

Now you know how to use le passé composé with être and avoir to talk about things you did over the weekend in French.

…and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway.

Au revoir !

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