retrievalSay the model sentences from memory
Retrieve the three model sentences without notes: « J’ai regardé un film », « J’ai joué au football » and « Nous avons mangé au restaurant ».
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Example lesson history · Describing the weekend with the perfect tense
Talk about familiar activities · 26 Aug Use time phrases in conversation · 19 Aug Give and extend an opinion · 12 Aug2 September 2026
Describing the weekend with the perfect tense ✓ Teacher approved
Today’s work focused on building and using the French perfect tense to describe completed actions. The key idea was to learn the frame « J’ai + past participle » and then swap the activity. You also listened for the auxiliary in speech, checked the ending of the past participle, and practised clear pronunciation of the final sound in « regardé » without overpronouncing the final consonants in words like « avons » and « beaucoup ».
Work from this lesson
Your next steps
writingWrite weekend sentences
Write four truthful sentences about your weekend using two different subject forms. Make sure each sentence has an auxiliary and a past participle.
speakingRecord a short spoken account
Record a 30-second account including « samedi » or « dimanche » and one opinion, for example after a completed action.
You practised talking about what you did at the weekend using the perfect tense. The main pattern was subject + present tense of avoir + past participle, for example: « J’ai regardé un film », « J’ai joué au football » and « Nous avons mangé au restaurant ». You also practised adding time phrases and opinions, such as « Samedi, j’ai regardé un film. C’était amusant. »
The perfect tense needs two parts
To describe a completed action in French, you need the auxiliary and the past participle together. In this lesson the model was subject + present tense of avoir + past participle.
Example « J’ai regardé un film » has « j’ai » and « regardé ». « Nous avons mangé au restaurant » has « nous avons » and « mangé ».
Common misconception A past event can be made by putting the main verb alone into a past form.
Check yourself Can I spot both the auxiliary and the past participle in every finished action?
Regular -er verbs change to -é
For regular -er verbs, remove -er and add -é to make the past participle. The written accent matters because the forms are different.
Example regarder → regardé; jouer → joué. « regarde » and « regardé » are not the same form.
Common misconception The present form and the past participle are interchangeable.
Check yourself Have I checked the accent on the past participle each time I write it?
Choose avoir, not être, for the verbs practised
The teacher corrected « je suis joué » to « j’ai joué ». In this lesson, the verbs practised used avoir as the auxiliary.
Example Correct: « J’ai joué au football ». Incorrect: « Je suis joué ».
Common misconception Every verb in the perfect tense takes être.
Check yourself When I write a past sentence from this lesson, have I used avoir?
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Building the perfect tenseIllustrative preview · not playable
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Describing the weekendIllustrative preview · not playable
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