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Past, present and future together
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At GCSE, your best answers use three time frames. Bring together everything from Key Stage 3.
Three time frames
Time phrases are your clues
Past: hier, le week-end dernier, l'année dernière, il y a deux jours.
Present: aujourd'hui, d'habitude (usually), normalement, tous les jours.
Future: demain, ce soir, le week-end prochain, l'année prochaine.
When reading or listening, spot these words to know the tense.
Present: aujourd'hui, d'habitude (usually), normalement, tous les jours.
Future: demain, ce soir, le week-end prochain, l'année prochaine.
When reading or listening, spot these words to know the tense.
Building a strong answer
Normalement, je vais au collège à pied. Hier, je suis allé en bus avec mon frère parce que c'était plus rapide. Demain, je vais prendre mon vélo.
This uses present, perfect and near future, plus a reason (c'était = it was).
Check: être or avoir in the perfect tense? Infinitive after aller?
This uses present, perfect and near future, plus a reason (c'était = it was).
Check: être or avoir in the perfect tense? Infinitive after aller?
Translate: Usually I eat at home, yesterday I ate at a restaurant and tomorrow I am going to eat at my friend's house.
- Usually I eat: d'habitude, je mange.
- Yesterday I ate: hier, j'ai mangé.
- Tomorrow I am going to eat: demain, je vais manger.
- at my friend's house: chez mon ami.
Answer: D'habitude, je mange à la maison, hier j'ai mangé au restaurant et demain je vais manger chez mon ami.
Past = perfect tense (j'ai joué, je suis allé); present = present tense (je joue); future = aller + infinitive (je vais jouer). Time phrases signal which one to use.
The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.
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