french

hello
explain passe compose tense
In English, verbs conjugated in the passé composé literally mean have/has ____ed. While there is a
simple past tense in French, it is only used in formal writing, so verbs conjugated in the passé
composé can also be used to mean the English simple tense.
For example, the passé composé form of parler (to speak), [avoir] parlé, literally mean has/have
spoken, but also means spoke. In French, the passé composé covers "I ate", "I did eat" and "I have
eaten" - J'ai mangé.
Usage
You use the passé composé when you want to express that:
Something has been completed in the past.
Something was done a certain amount of times in the past. (if the something was ongoing,
the imparfait should be used)
A series of somethings was completed in the past.
If you want to know how to form it, you'll have to look it up. There are a lot of rules, and they are
easily listed elsewhere (like in the Wikibook).
--Fruitblender 22:43, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
Verbs used as adjectives or nouns
How do you tanslate English "verbals" into French? I am confused about both:
Verbs used as adjectives (in English they would be called "participles")
ex: I see the singing girl.
Verbs used as nouns (in English they would be called "gerunds")
ex: Singing is fun.
Thanks for your help, FerralMoonrender (talk) 20:47, 14 July 2008 (UTC)
Çava
Hi.
Verbs used as adjectives are generally translated to qui + verb (conjugated). In your example, a
French would say "Je vois la fille qui chante".
Verbs used as nouns would be translated to the infinitive form of the verb. In your example, we
would say "Chanter est amusant".
I hope I answered your question. --AurélieM (talk) 00:36, 21 July 2008 (UTC)
Merci beaucoup! FerralMoonrender (talk) 06:53, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
Passé composé - Reflexive Verbs vs. Verbs with Preceding Object
Pronouns
Is the auxillary verb "être" used both with reflexive and preceding object pronouns?