Immediate Past

CONTENT
  1. Usage of Immediate Past
  2. Forming the Immediate Past
  3. Emphasizing the Immediate Past
  4. Immediate Past and Past Tenses

Usage of Immediate Past

Rule 1: To express that something happened in the immediate past, we use the immediate past (le passé récent). Note that it is used only when we want to speak about a completed action that took place shortly before the moment of speaking.

The immediate past in French can correspond to the English structure "have just + past participle."

Native

Translation

Je viens de finir mes devoirs.

I have just finished my homework.

Le train vient de partir.

The train just left.

Forming the Immediate Past

Rule 2: To form the immediate past, we take the present tense of the verb venir + "de" + infinitive. Here's an example with the verb manger (to eat).

je viens de manger
tu viens de manger
il, elle, on vient de manger
nous venons de manger
vous venez de manger
ils, elles viennent de manger

Emphasizing the Immediate Past

Rule 3: To further emphasize this, "juste" or "à l'instant" can be used.

Native

Translation

Le train vient juste de partir.

The train has just left.

Le train vient de partir à l’instant.

The train has just left.

Immediate Past and Past Tenses

Rule 4: For sentences in past tenses, venir can be used in the imparfait to describe a previous event.

Native

Translation

Il venait de finir quand…

He was just done, when...

Quiz

1/3

Il _ sa voiture.

0

correct answers.