Today and yesterday: perfect tense with 'faire' and 'dire'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use the perfect tense with 'avoir' to talk about what I did yesterday and compare it to what I am doing today.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- [gn] sounds like 'ligne'.
- Use the perfect tense to say what you did in the past.
- To say what I did, use 'j'ai' and a past participle.
- The past participles of 'dire' and 'faire' are 'dit' and 'fait'.
- The past participles 'dit' and 'fait' sound identical to the present tense verb forms.
Keywords
[gn] - pronounced as in 'ligne'
Perfect tense - a verb tense that describes completed actions in the past, e.g. 'I said', 'she did'
Past participle - verb that forms the perfect tense, usually together with a present tense form of 'avoir'
Common misconception
There is no difference in French between the present and perfect tense forms 'I do' and 'I did', 'I say' and 'I said', because they sound the same.
The spellings of the past participles 'fait' and 'dit' are different to the first person (I) present tense but sound the same because of silent final consonants. Another difference is using 'j'ai' before past participles to say 'I did'.
Teacher tip
Teachers may want to overexaggerate the difference in pronunciation between the present and perfect tense and even have a gesture to help pupils remember.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the French and English.
future
again
late
Miss
Sir
quite
Q2.What does the verb 'dire' mean?
Q3.Put the French numbers in descending order (biggest to smallest).
Q4.What's the French word for 'today'?
Q5.Write in French: 'I have'.
Q6.Write the feminine form of the adjective 'new'.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the French and English.
ambitious
careful
hard working
apartment
bank
market
Q2.Which letters are usually silent final consonants in French?
Q3.Which places contain the sound [gn] in French?
Q4.Which words are past participles?
Q5.We use the tense to refer to completed past actions in French.
Q6.Order the words to say: 'Yesterday, I went on a trip and now I'm doing the housework'.
To help you plan your 8 French lesson on: Today and yesterday: perfect tense with 'faire' and 'dire', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 8 French lesson on: Today and yesterday: perfect tense with 'faire' and 'dire', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 French lessons from the Everyday life: -ER verbs in the present and past unit, dive into the full secondary French curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.