Le passé récent: The Recent Past

Le passé récent: The Recent Past

Today, we will learn how to use the verb VENIR + infinitif to speak about events that happened recently in the past.

What does passé récent mean?

• passé = the past

• récent = recent, so it happened not long ago

• passé récent is used to stress that something JUST happened

• English: I just arrived, I just woke up, Loris Vergier just won the race!

Some Examples

• Je viens de chanter une chanson = I just sang a song.

• Nous venons d'arriver = we have just arrived.

• Tu viens de parler. = You have just spoken.

Multiple Choice

What does passé récent mean?

• the recent past

• the past

Multiple Choice

Which English sentence is written in the recent past?

• He won the race!

• He had won the race!

• He just won the race!

• He has won the race!

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is written in passé récent?

• Je viens de parler.

• Je parle.

• Je vais parler.

Forming the passé récent:

• Part 1: sujet (subject) can be a pronoun (je, tu, il, nous...) or a noun (Catherine, le docteur, Les cyclistes...)

• Part 2: Verb VENIR (to come) in its proper present form

• Part 3: de (from)

• Part 4: Verb infinitive

Verb Infinitives

• These are verbs in their dictionary form.

• 
  

• 
  

In-Depth Example

• I just played the park.

• Sujet: Je

• Venir: Je viens de

• To play: jouer

• Je viens de jouer au parc.

More Examples

• I just arrived...

• Je viens d'arriver.

• They (masculine) just spoke.

• Ils viennent de parler.

• She just worked.

• Elle vient de travailler.

Multiple Choice

I just walked.

• Je marche.

• Je viens marcher.

• Je viens de marcher.

• Je viens marche.

Multiple Choice

He just played soccer.

• Il joue au soccer.

• Il aime jouer au soccer.

• Il veut jouer au soccer.

• Il vient de jouer au soccer.

Multiple Choice

We just arrived.

• Nous arrivons.

• Nous voulons arriver.

• Nous venons d'arriver.

• Nous venons arriver.

Multiple Choice

You have just spoken with a cat.

• Tu viens de parler avec un chat.

• Le chat vient de parler avec toi.

• Tu parles avec un chat.

• Tu es un chat.