This module is about showing when something happens in French: yesterday, in the background of a story, or next year. It covers time phrases, the passé composé, the imparfait and the main ways to talk about plans.
Almost every writing and speaking task asks for more than the present tense. Describing a trip, a memory or an ambition all depend on moving between past, present and future clearly. The French pathway on this site is Foreign Language 0520, so check the current syllabus on the Cambridge page for how these skills are assessed.
What should you know first?
You need the present tense of common verbs, especially avoir, être and aller, and the regular verb groups. If those are shaky, start with the present-time expression module and the sentence foundations and agreement module.
You also need a feel for agreement, because the past participle can change with être verbs. A short revision of gender and number will make the passé composé easier.
An orienting example
Read this short account and notice which verb does which job.
Hier, j’ai regardé un film avec mon frère. Il était très long, mais nous étions contents. Demain, nous allons aller au cinéma pour en voir un autre.
J’ai regardé is an event that finished: passé composé. Il était and nous étions describe how things were: imparfait. Nous allons aller is a plan: futur proche. Every verb is in the tense that matches its time and its job, and the time phrases hier and demain confirm it.
In what order should you study the lessons?
- Choose a tense that fits an explicit time reference. Start here because every later choice begins by reading the time phrase.
- Contrast a past event with a background description. This is the hardest decision in the module, so give it time.
- Express a realistic future intention. The future forms are shorter to learn once the past is settled.
- Revise tense consistency across a short original account. This joins everything and teaches you to proofread your own work.
- Integrated practice for past and future meaning. Use it to test all four lessons together.
What traps catch most learners?
- Writing the verb in the present because the time phrase is clear. Hier, je vais… is a present form after a past time word.
- Using the imparfait for every past verb. A story needs events as well as scene-setting.
- Using the passé composé for every past verb. Descriptions, feelings and habits need the imparfait.
- Forgetting être or agreement. Elle est partie, not elle a parti.
- Putting a future form after si. Si j’ai le temps, j’irai, not si j’aurai.
How should you use the practice set?
Work through the integrated practice set after you have read all four lessons, writing every answer before opening the working. Each wrong answer is tagged to a lesson, so you can revise exactly what you need.
Then write a short account of your own and proofread it using the labelling routine. Tenses stay accurate under pressure only when you have practised producing them, not only recognising them. Ideas for what to write about appear in the everyday routines and arrangements module, and the way these tenses support a longer text is covered in developing an original written response.
You can also find the full study route in the French learning guide. If you want a teacher to listen to your spoken answers and respond live, our online one-to-one French tuition is built for that.