KS3 · French · Year 8
Illness and accidents: irregular past participles, perfect tense questions
Past events: the perfect tense, questions
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IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/12
Your learning goal
I can say what hurts in the present and what hurt in the past (present perfect) using irregular past participles.
1 of 12
Illness and accidents: irregular past participles, perfect tense questions: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can say what hurts in the present and what hurt in the past (present perfect) using irregular past participles.
Key learning points
- The SSC [j/soft g] is pronounced as in 'jambe'. The letter 'g' can be soft or hard in French: 'la gare', 'la gymnase'.
- The SSC [gn] is pronounced as in 'ligne'.
- The expression 'avoir mal' means to be 'in pain' or 'hurt'. 'J'ai eu mal' is the perfect tense: 'I have had, had pain'.
- 'Eu' is an irregular past participle. Other irregular past participles are 'fait' (faire), 'bu' (boire), 'dit' (dire).
- Perfect tense questions can be translated in two different ways: 'Tu as bu ?' - 'Did you drink?', 'Have you drunk?'.
Words to know
- [j/g]
- pronounced as in 'jambe'
- [gn]
- pronounced as in 'ligne'
- avoir mal
- expression meaning to be 'in pain' or 'hurt'
- past participle
- verb that forms the perfect tense, usually together with a present tense form of ‘avoir'
- perfect tense
- a verb tense that describes completed actions in the past, e.g. 'I listened', 'you played'
Common mistakes
All past participles follow the regular -er verb pattern: change the -er to -é: 'j'ai commencé' ('I started').
Some past participles are irregular and do not follow the regular -er verb pattern: 'j'ai fait' ('I did').
For parents, carers and teachers
- Ask pupils to perform their doctor/patient role-plays to the class (task D2).