
- •41. Imperfect Tense
- •Avoir, Devoir, Pouvoir, Savoir, and Vouloir These verbs change meanings, according to whether they are used in the imperfect or the passé composé.
- •The imperfect tense is also used with these constructions:
- •42. Places / Les Endroits
- •43. Transportation
- •46. Furniture and Appliances / Les meubles et l'Electromenager
- •47. Comparatives & Superlatives
- •49. Clothing / Les vetements
- •50. To Wear
- •51. Future Tenses: Simple and Anterior
- •52. Preceding & Plural Adjectives
- •53. Adjectives: Formation of Feminine
- •54. Forming Plurals: Adjectives
- •55. More Adjectives
- •Some common slang adjectives that are used constantly in everyday speech:
- •58. Sports & Instruments
- •La lutte is regular wrestling (the real Greco-Roman sport), while le catch is professional/fake wrestling.
- •59. Nature
- •Vive la France ! Long live France!
50. To Wear
Mettre /mɛtʀ/ - to put, to put on, wear |
|||||||||||
Present |
Imperfect |
Future |
|||||||||
mets |
/mɛ/ |
mettons |
/mɛtɔ̃/ |
mettais |
/mɛtɛ/ |
mettions |
/mɛtjɔ̃/ |
mettrai |
/mɛtʀɛ/ |
mettrons |
/mɛtʀɔ̃/ |
mets |
/mɛ/ |
mettez |
/mɛte/ |
mettais |
/mɛtɛ/ |
mettiez |
/mɛtje/ |
mettras |
/mɛtʀa/ |
mettrez |
/mɛtʀe/ |
met |
/mɛ/ |
mettent |
/mɛt/ |
mettait |
/mɛtɛ/ |
mettaient |
/mɛtɛ/ |
mettra |
/mɛtʀa/ |
mettront |
/mɛtʀɔ̃/ |
Other verbs that are conjugated like mettre: promettre - to promise and permettre - to permit. The past participle of mettre is mis and it is conjugated with avoir.
Porter is actually the verb to wear, but the French use mettre also.
Il / Elle te va bien. |
It looks good on you. (informal) |
Il / Elle vous va bien. |
It looks good on you. (formal) |
Ils / Elles te vont bien. |
They look good on you. (informal) |
Ils / Elles vous vont bien. |
They look good on you. (formal) |
51. Future Tenses: Simple and Anterior
The futur simple expresses an action that will take place [will + infinitive]. The futur antérieur expresses an action that will have taken place before another future action [will have + past participle]. The future tense is used just like it is in English, however, in French, the future is always used after quand or lorsque (when), dès que or aussitôt que (as soon as) and tant que (as long as.)
To form the future tense, use the infinitive and add these endings that resemble those of avoir. However, you drop the -e from -re verbs.
-ai |
/ɛ/ |
-ons |
ɔ̃/ |
-as |
/a/ |
-ez |
/e/ |
-a |
/a/ |
-ont |
/ɔ̃/ |
parler |
choisir |
perdre |
|||
parlerai |
parlerons |
choisirai |
choisirons |
perdrai |
perdrons |
parleras |
parlerez |
choisiras |
choisirez |
perdras |
perdrez |
parlera |
parleront |
choisira |
choisiront |
perdra |
perdront |
And of course, there are exceptions. Here are the irregular stems for the future tense (these will also be used in the conditional tense):
Irregular Stems |
|||
aller |
ir- |
pleuvoir |
pleuvr- |
avoir |
aur- |
pouvoir |
pourr- |
courir |
courr- |
recevoir |
recevr- |
devoir |
devr- |
savoir |
saur- |
envoyer |
enverr- |
tenir |
tiendr- |
être |
ser- |
valoir |
vaudr- |
faire |
fer- |
venir |
viendr- |
falloir |
faudr- |
voir |
verr- |
mourir |
mourr- |
vouloir |
voudr- |
être |
aller |
||
serai |
serons |
j'irai |
irons |
seras |
serez |
iras |
irez |
sera |
seront |
ira |
iront |
Other exceptions: For appeler and jeter, double the consonant. For nettoyer and payer, change the y to i. For acheter, add an accent grave. For préférer, the accents all remain the same.
jeter |
|
payer |
|
acheter |
|
préférer |
||||
jetterai |
jetterons |
|
paierai |
paierons |
|
achèterai |
achèterons |
|
préférerai |
préférerons |
jetteras |
jetterez |
|
paieras |
paierez |
|
achèteras |
achèterez |
|
préféreras |
préférerez |
jettera |
jetteront |
|
paiera |
paieront |
|
achètera |
achèteront |
|
préférera |
préféreront |
To form the futur antérieur (will have + past participle), use the future of either avoir or être (whichever the main verb takes) and the past participle of the main verb.
Quand ils reviendront, ils auront changé. When they come back, they will have changed. Dès qu'ils seront revenus, ils voudront repartir. As soon as they have returned, they will want to leave again.