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Year 8

Today and yesterday: perfect tense with 'faire' and 'dire'

Learning outcomes

I can use the perfect tense with 'avoir' to talk about what I did yesterday and compare it to what I am doing today.

I can recognise and pronounce [gn].

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New
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Year 8

Today and yesterday: perfect tense with 'faire' and 'dire'

Learning outcomes

I can use the perfect tense with 'avoir' to talk about what I did yesterday and compare it to what I am doing today.

I can recognise and pronounce [gn].

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. [gn] sounds like 'ligne'.
  2. Use the perfect tense to say what you did in the past.
  3. To say what I did, use 'j'ai' and a past participle.
  4. The past participles of 'dire' and 'faire' are 'dit' and 'fait'.
  5. 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'.


To help you plan your year 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...

Teachers may want to overexaggerate the difference in pronunciation between the present and perfect tense and even have a gesture to help pupils remember.
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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.
Match the French and English.
Correct Answer:avenir,future
tick

future

Correct Answer:encore,again
tick

again

Correct Answer:en retard,late
tick

late

Correct Answer:madame,Miss
tick

Miss

Correct Answer:monsieur,Sir
tick

Sir

Correct Answer:assez,quite
tick

quite

Q2.
What does the verb 'dire' mean?
to go, going
Correct answer: to say, tell; saying, telling
to leave, leaving
to take, taking
to choose, choosing
Q3.
Put the French numbers in descending order (biggest to smallest).
1 - trente
2 - vingt
3 - seize
4 - quatorze
5 - douze
6 - dix
7 - cinq
Q4.
What's the French word for 'today'?
Correct answer: aujourd'hui
entre
partout
peut-être
pour
Q5.
Write in French: 'I have'.
Correct Answer: j'ai
Q6.
Write the feminine form of the adjective 'new'.
Correct Answer: nouvelle

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the French and English.
Correct Answer:ambitieux, ambitieuse,ambitious
tick

ambitious

Correct Answer:prudent(e),careful
tick

careful

Correct Answer:travailleur, travailleuse,hard working
tick

hard working

Correct Answer:appartement,apartment
tick

apartment

Correct Answer:banque,bank
tick

bank

Correct Answer:marché,market
tick

market

Q2.
Which letters are usually silent final consonants in French?
c
r
Correct answer: s
Correct answer: t
Correct answer: x
Q3.
Which places contain the sound [gn] in French?
France
England
Correct answer: Germany
Correct answer: Spain
Algeria
Q4.
Which words are past participles?
dis
Correct answer: dit
fais
Correct answer: fait
Q5.
We use the tense to refer to completed past actions in French.
Correct Answer: perfect
Q6.
Order the words to say: 'Yesterday, I went on a trip and now I'm doing the housework'.
1 - hier
2 - j'ai
3 - fait
4 - un voyage et maintenant
5 - je
6 - fais
7 - le ménage

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