This set mixes everything from past and future meaning: time phrases, events against background, future plans and proofreading. The questions are original and run from easier to harder.
How should you use this set?
Cover the answers. Write each answer on paper, in full, before opening the working. Say the finished sentence aloud once, because a sentence that sounds wrong to you often is wrong.
Mark an answer correct only if every verb form matches, including the auxiliary and the agreement. If you miss one, note the error type and use the guide at the end to pick the lesson to revisit.
Part A: choose the tense from the time phrase
1. Complete: Hier, nous (regarder) un match à la télévision.
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Hier is a finished past moment, so the passé composé with avoir: Hier, nous avons regardé un match à la télévision.
2. Complete: Dans trois jours, je (partir) en vacances.
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Dans trois jours looks forward. Futur proche: Dans trois jours, je vais partir en vacances. The futur simple je partirai also fits.
3. Complete: Il y a deux ans, ma famille (déménager) à Kuala Lumpur.
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Il y a deux ans places a finished event in the past. Famille is a singular noun, so: Il y a deux ans, ma famille a déménagé à Kuala Lumpur.
Part B: events and background
4. Complete: Quand j’étais petit, nous (aller) à la plage tous les étés.
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Quand j’étais petit and tous les étés signal a past habit. Nous allons gives the stem all-: nous allions à la plage tous les étés.
5. Complete: Il (faire) beau, donc je (sortir) avec mes amis.
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Weather is background: il faisait beau. Going out is the event, and sortir takes être: Il faisait beau, donc je suis sorti avec mes amis. A girl would write je suis sortie.
6. Complete: Mon père (cuisiner) quand je (rentrer).
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Cooking was in progress, so the imparfait. Coming home interrupted it, so the passé composé with être: Mon père cuisinait quand je suis rentré (rentrée if the speaker is a girl).
7. Explain in one sentence why Hier, il y avait un accident and Hier, il y a eu un accident are both possible, and how the meaning differs.
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Il y avait un accident describes the scene, as if the accident was part of the setting. Il y a eu un accident reports it as an event that happened. Choose by what you want the reader to picture: a backdrop or a moment.
Part C: future plans
8. Complete: Demain soir, je (finir) mon projet de géographie.
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Futur simple: add -ai to the infinitive: Demain soir, je finirai mon projet de géographie. The futur proche je vais finir is also correct.
9. Correct this sentence: Si je réussirai mon examen, je serai content.
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After si the condition takes the present: Si je réussis mon examen, je serai content. Only the result clause uses the future.
Part D: proofread and write
10. Correct every tense error in this draft, then explain your choices briefly.
Le week-end dernier, je vais chez mon oncle. Il y avait beaucoup de monde et nous mangeons ensemble. Le week-end prochain, je suis resté chez moi.
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Sentence 1: Le week-end dernier is finished past, one event, so je suis allé (aller takes être).
Sentence 2: Il y avait is already correct as background. Nous mangeons is present, but the meal is a finished event: nous avons mangé.
Sentence 3: Le week-end prochain looks forward, but suis resté is past. Use je resterai chez moi or je vais rester chez moi.
Corrected account:
Le week-end dernier, je suis allé chez mon oncle. Il y avait beaucoup de monde et nous avons mangé ensemble. Le week-end prochain, je resterai chez moi.
11. Write three sentences about your plans after school. Use one aller plus infinitive, one si plus present with a future result, and one phrase such as j’espère.
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Answers will vary. One model answer:
Après l’école, je vais faire un stage dans une entreprise. Si je réussis mes examens, j’étudierai à l’université. J’espère voyager en Europe un jour.
Check yours: is the aller form followed by an infinitive? Is the si clause in the present and the result in the future? Is j’espère followed by an infinitive?
If you got these wrong
| What went wrong | Example from this set | Revisit |
|---|---|---|
| You chose a tense that did not match the time phrase | Questions 1 to 3, 10 | Choose a tense that fits an explicit time reference |
| You mixed up the imparfait and the passé composé | Questions 4 to 7 | Contrast a past event with a background description |
| Your future form or si sentence was wrong | Questions 8, 9, 11 | Express a realistic future intention |
| You missed errors when proofreading | Question 10 | Revise tense consistency across a short original account |
| You were unsure of the present-tense verb forms | Any question | Present-time expression module |
If one row accounts for most of your slips, spend the next study session on that lesson only, then redo the matching questions.
What next?
When you can answer most of these without the working, try writing a short account of your own and label each verb as in the proofreading lesson. A teacher in online one-to-one French tuition can read that account with you and respond to what you actually wrote. More original tasks are collected in the original French practice hub.