New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

J'ai dû attendre : irregular past participles, modal verbs present and past

I can combine regular, irregular and modal verbs in the perfect and present tenses to describe positive and negative aspects of a trip to town.

New
New
Year 11
Edexcel

J'ai dû attendre : irregular past participles, modal verbs present and past

I can combine regular, irregular and modal verbs in the perfect and present tenses to describe positive and negative aspects of a trip to town.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Adding modal verbs to your written and spoken work broadens communication and adds complexity.
  2. The irregular past participles of the four modal verbs are: dû, pu, voulu and su.
  3. It is helpful to practise moving between present and past tense modals e.g je peux- j'ai pu; je veux- j'ai voulu.

Keywords

  • Modal verb - verb of necessity or possibility used with a 2nd verb in infinitive e.g. must, can, want

  • Irregular - describes a word that does not follow the regular pattern

Common misconception

You must only use verbs in the same tense as the task question in your answer.

Students should practise combining different tenses of verbs when giving their answers (ensuring they give a relevant response to the task) in order to demonstrate a wider knowledge of language and to give a richer response.


To help you plan your year 11 french lesson on: J'ai dû attendre : irregular past participles, modal verbs present and past, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teachers might wish to adapt task A3 (translation) for students requiring additional support e.g. translate the verbs first, then work through the rest of the text, translating the most familiar vocabulary first.
Teacher tip

Equipment

A set of dice are required for task B3. If unavailable, pairs could toss a coin or a small token and decide which sides represent odd and even numbers.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the grammatical name for the verb form that is used in the perfect tense with an auxiliary verb like avoir?
Correct Answer: past particple
Q2.
Which verbs have an irregular past participle?
Correct answer: faire
Correct answer: boire
attendre
Correct answer: voir
décider
Q3.
Which of the following is the correct past participle of 'avoir'?
avoir
Correct answer: eu
a
avez
Q4.
Match the French words to their English meanings.
Correct Answer:met,puts

puts

Correct Answer:le ministre,minister

minister

Correct Answer:libéral,liberal

liberal

Correct Answer:inconnu,unknown

unknown

Correct Answer:sec / sèche,dry

dry

Correct Answer:le bord,border, edge

border, edge

Q5.
Put the words in the correct order to say: 'He drank the milk.'
1 - il
2 - a
3 - bu
4 - le
5 - lait
Q6.
Which sentence uses a modal verb?
J'aime payer.
Correct answer: Je peux payer.
Je déteste payer.
Je vais payer.

5 Questions

Q1.
Which of these is the correct past participle of vouloir (to want)?
veux
Correct answer: voulu
vouloir
veulent
Q2.
Match each French word or phrase to its correct English meaning.
Correct Answer:cru,believed

believed

Correct Answer:chaussure,shoe

shoe

Correct Answer:pantalon,trousers

trousers

Correct Answer:court,short

short

Correct Answer:couru,ran

ran

Correct Answer:vu,saw

saw

Q3.
Write the past tense equivalent of je peux (I can). Use the perfect tense.
Correct Answer: j'ai pu
Q4.
Which of the following best shows a contrast between present and past tense modals?
Je peux acheter une liste.
J'ai voulu payer, mais je ne peux pas.
Correct answer: Je veux payer, et j’ai pu le faire hier.
J'ai acheté un chapeau bleu.
Q5.
Complete the sentence with the correct form of devoir in the perfect tense, to mean 'I had to'.
Correct Answer: J'ai dû, j'ai du

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