12.6 Review — tense and aspect — Epoché
What this lesson reviews Tense and aspect: not the forms, which 12.2 Review reviewed, but the choice between them. The present with depuis for something still going on; the recent past with venir de and the near future with aller ; être en train de for an action in progress; the imperfect for habits, descriptions and backgrounds against the perfect for events and bounded periods; the pluperfect; the future and the future perfect after quand ; and the literary past of narration. English marks aspect with -ing and with have ; French marks it with different tenses in different places, and this is where English speakers make their most persistent mistakes. This lesson explains nothing new. Sentences from this lesson, before the explanation. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Le téléphone sonnait quand je suis rentré. [1] The telephone was ringing when I got home. Quand j'étais petit, je collectionnais les timbres. [2] When I was little, I collected stamps. Je venais à peine de m'endormir quand le téléphone a sonné. [3] I had hardly fallen asleep when the telephone rang. Demande-lui quand elle reviendra. [4] Ask her when she'll be back. Elle reviendra bientôt nous voir. [5] She will come back soon to visit us. J’ai habité ici pendant trois ans. [6] I lived here for three years. Prerequisites : 12.5 — and in practice 3.6 Conjugation for aller and venir de , 3.8 Conjugation for depuis , 4.14 Grammar for the imperfect against the perfect, 4.17 Grammar for the pluperfect and the future perfect, 4.22 Grammar for en train de , and 3.15 Conjugation for the literary past. Work through the sections in order and score yourself at the end. Twenty sentences All twenty are real sentences from the corpus. Cover the English, translate the French, and for each verb say why that tense and not its neighbour. French English J'habite ici depuis trois ans. [7] I have been living here for three years. J'étudie l'allemand depuis deux ans. [8] I have been studying German for two years. Je viens d'arriver. [9] I just arrived now. Je vais partir. [10] I'm going to leave. Je suis en train de jouer. [11] I'm playing. Quand j'étais petit, je collectionnais des timbres. [12] When I was little I collected stamps. Elle allait tous les jours à la messe. [13] She went to mass every day. Il pleuvait doucement. [14] It was raining quietly. Quand elle est entrée, nous finissions le plat principal. [15] When she came in, we were finishing the main dish. Quand je suis arrivé, il n'y avait plus de gâteau. [16] When I got there, there was no more cake left. Quand je suis rentré, j'avais très faim. [17] When I came home, I felt very hungry. J'ai dormi pendant trois heures. [18] I slept for three hours. Il a plu pendant trois jours. [19] It rained for three days. C'était il y a trois ans. [20] That was three years ago. La nuit avait déjà commencé. [21] Night had already begun. Je venais de me réveiller et j'étais encore somnolent. [22] I'd just woken up and was still drowsy. Appelle-moi quand tu auras fini. [23] Ring me when you've finished. Il reviendra quand il aura faim. [24] He will come back when he gets hungry. Elle se leva. [25] She stood up. Elle sortit. [26] She went out. The groups: numbers 1 and 2 are the present with depuis ; numbers 3 to 5 the recent past, the near future and the progressive; numbers 6 to 8 the imperfect of habit and description; numbers 9 to 11 a background and an event in one sentence; numbers 12 and 13 a bounded period in the perfect; number 14 il y a meaning ago ; numbers 15 and 16 an action before another past; numbers 17 and 18 the future after quand ; numbers 19 and 20 the literary past. Dictation Five sentences to write from the English. In each, the English tense is not the French one. I have been living here for two years. (English has a perfect; French does not.) I have just eaten. (English has a perfect; French has a present.) When I was young, I played tennis. (English has one past; which one does French need?) I was sleeping when the phone rang. (Two pasts: background and event.) Call me when you have arrived. (English has a perfect after when ; French has which tense, with which auxiliary?) Read aloud Read these five twice each. Several tenses differ by one vowel. Quand j'étais petit, je collectionnais des timbres. — the imperfect ending is an open vowel; keep it apart from the closed vowel of a participle. Je viens d'arriver. — d'arriver joins into one group with no pause. Je suis en train de jouer. — en train has two different nasal vowels. Appelle-moi quand tu auras fini. — the d of quand is silent before a consonant. Elle se leva. — the literary past ends in a plain a , not in the open vowel of the imperfect. Find the mistake Five sentences, each with exactly one error of tense. Correct it and name the rule. J'ai habité ici depuis trois ans. Hier, je lisais un livre pendant deux heures. Je dormais quand le téléphone sonnait. Je suis venu de manger. Appelle-moi quand tu as fini. All five copy English. English uses the perfect for a state that continues, and its have just is also a perfect; English has one simple past for a bounded period and for an event that interrupts; and English puts a present or a perfect after when where French looks ahead with a future. Practice Read and translate. Read them aloud, then translate each into English: Elle était en train de prendre une douche quand le téléphone a sonné. [27] / Quand je suis arrivé dans la salle de classe, elle n'était plus là. [28] / Quand je suis rentrée, j'avais très faim. [29] / Je suis là depuis déjà deux heures. [30] / Je jouais souvent au tennis quand j'étais jeune. [31] / J'étudie le français trois heures tous les jours. [32] / Je vais rester ici pendant encore trois jours. [33] Into French. Say these in French; every word has come up in the course: My life was simpler when I was young. / I wish I'd studied harder when I was young. / When I got home, I was very hungry. Summary Read these back be