To recount a shared experience, put the events in order with time markers and use the perfect tense (passé composé) for what happened. A reader should always know when each thing took place and who was there.
This skill is needed when a task asks what you did last weekend, on a trip or at an event with friends or family. It is part of people and personal experiences, and it builds on the tenses in past and future meaning.
How do time references organise a recount?
Without time words, *J’ai joué au badminton. J’ai mangé une glace.
Je suis rentrée.* is a list. With them, it becomes a story.
Use one marker to set the scene (samedi dernier, hier soir, il y a deux jours) and a few to order the events (d’abord, ensuite, puis, après, enfin). Add pendant plus a length of time, such as pendant une heure, when duration matters.
How do I recount an experience step by step?
- Set the scene with a time marker and the people: Samedi dernier, je suis allée au parc avec ma cousine.
- Give events in order with d’abord, ensuite, enfin.
- Choose the helper verb for each event. Avoir for most verbs, être for aller, arriver, partir, rentrer, sortir and similar verbs. With être, the participle agrees with the subject.
- Add one background detail in the imperfect: Il faisait chaud.
- Finish with a reaction or outcome: Nous étions fatiguées mais contentes.
Worked example
Task: describe a day out with a relative.
Samedi dernier, je suis allée au parc avec ma cousine. D’abord, nous avons joué au badminton pendant une heure. Ensuite, nous avons mangé des glaces. Il faisait chaud et le parc était plein de monde. Enfin, vers dix-sept heures, nous sommes rentrées à la maison.
Step 1, scene: Samedi dernier and avec ma cousine give the time and the person. The writer is a girl, so je suis allée has the extra e.
Step 2, order: d’abord, ensuite and enfin mark the start, middle and end.
Step 3, helper verbs: aller and rentrer use être (je suis allée, nous sommes rentrées), while jouer and manger use avoir (nous avons joué, nous avons mangé).
Step 4, background: Il faisait chaud and le parc était plein de monde describe the situation, not an action.
Step 5, close: vers dix-sept heures places the end of the day. A one-line reaction could follow.
What mistake should I watch for?
A common slip is to use the wrong helper verb, or to drop back into the present when a time word points to the past.
Mistaken answer: Hier, j’ai allé au cinéma et je vois un bon film.
Aller takes être, and je vois is present tense although hier says yesterday.
The correction is Hier, je suis allé au cinéma et j’ai vu un bon film. Before you write a verb, look at the time word that began the sentence and ask which tense it asks for.
Check yourself
Try these on paper, then open each answer.
1. Translate: Two days ago, we visited my grandmother.
Show answer
Il y a plus a length of time means “ago”, and rendre visite à is used for people: Il y a deux jours, nous avons rendu visite à ma grand-mère.
2. Correct: Hier soir, j’ai allé chez mon ami.
Show answer
Aller uses être: Hier soir, je suis allé chez mon ami. A girl writes je suis allée.
3. Complete with the perfect tense: Samedi dernier, mes amis et moi, nous ___ (aller) à la plage et nous ___ (nager).
Show answer
nous sommes allés (or allées if the group is all female) and nous avons nagé. Aller uses être and agrees. Nager uses avoir.
Where does this lead next?
Next, compare two leisure activities using specific reasons, which lets you use what you did as evidence for what you prefer. Check your tenses again in the integrated practice for people and personal experiences.
Time references and tenses are exactly what a teacher can correct as you speak. See how that works in online one-to-one French tuition.