Cheat sheet

Stories and memories: cheat sheet

The summary, key terms and the trap to avoid for every lesson, in order. Print it, or read it, cover it, and say it back.

Mission: tell the story of a trip that went wrong B1 · Stories and memories

Plus-que-parfait = avoir or être in the imparfait + past participle.
Same auxiliary choice and agreement as the passé composé: elles étaient parties.
Use it for an action finished before another past moment: le train était déjà parti.
Déjà and pas encore go between the auxiliary and the participle.
In a story: passé composé for what happened, imparfait for the scene, plus-que-parfait for what had happened earlier.

plus-que-parfait: past perfect: avoir or être in the imparfait + participle
auxiliaire: the helping verb, avoir or être
déjà: already (between auxiliary and participle)
pas encore: not yet: je n'avais pas encore mangé
avant: before
Si j'avais su !: If I'd known!

Watch out: Using the passé composé for the earlier event: ~~wrong: Quand je suis arrivée, le train est déjà parti~~. You'll hear this in everyday speech, but it doesn't show that the leaving came first; the plus-que-parfait makes the order clear. The earlier event needs the plus-que-parfait: le train était déjà parti.

Mission: tell a long story that keeps people listening B1 · Stories and memories

Imparfait for the scene and feelings, passé composé for the events, plus-que-parfait for what happened before.
Soudain and tout à coup usually announce a new event: passé composé.
Au bout d'un moment (after a while), à ce moment-là (at that moment), finalement (in the end).
Du coup (so) is spoken French; in writing use alors or donc.
Hooks: Et là… and Tu ne devineras jamais…

soudain: suddenly
tout à coup: all of a sudden
à ce moment-là: at that moment
au bout d'un moment: after a while
finalement: in the end
du coup: so, as a result (spoken)
Et là…: and then… (spoken hook)
Tu ne devineras jamais…: you'll never guess…

Watch out: Telling everything in the passé composé, so the story has no scenery: ~~wrong: Il a plu et j'ai été fatigué quand la lumière s'est éteinte~~. The weather and your feeling are the background: Il pleuvait et j'étais fatigué quand la lumière s'est éteinte.

Mission: pass on a message from someone else B1 · Stories and memories

After a past reporting verb, the tense steps back: présent → imparfait, passé composé → plus-que-parfait, futur → conditionnel.
With a present reporting verb (il dit que), nothing changes.
Pronouns and possessives follow the speaker: je → il, mon → son, vous → je.
Time words change: demain → le lendemain, hier → la veille, aujourd'hui → ce jour-là.
Yes/no questions → si; Qu'est-ce que → ce que; Qu'est-ce qui → ce qui; normal word order.
Orders → de + infinitive.

discours indirect: reported speech
il a dit que: he said that
il m'a demandé si: he asked me if
ce que / ce qui: what (object / subject) in reported questions
le lendemain: the next day
la veille: the day before
Il m'a dit de te dire que…: He told me to tell you that…

Watch out: Keeping the tense of the original: ~~wrong: Il a dit qu'il est dans le train~~. After il a dit que (past), use the imparfait: il était dans le train. In speech the present can stay if it is still true at the moment you report it, but the imparfait is the standard choice when you tell the story from later on.