📖LearnModule 9 · Lesson 11 of 30Independent User · CEFR B2, completedUnit 3 · Le discours rapporté au passé
La concordance des temps
Module 9 of the free French course (CEFR B2, completed), lesson 11 of 30: When the reporting verb goes into the past. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 11.
The words
French
English
Say it
il a dit qu'il venait
he said he was coming
eel ah dee keel vuh-NEH
il a dit qu'il avait fini
he said he had finished
eel ah dee keel ah-veh fee-NEE
il a dit qu'il viendrait
he said he would come
eel ah dee keel vya(n)-DREH
la concordance des temps
the sequence of tenses
lah koh(n)-kor-dah(n)s day TAH(n)
reculer
to step back
ruh-kew-LAY
le décalage
the shift
luh day-kah-LAHZH
la règle générale
the general rule
lah rehgl zhay-nay-RAHL
mécanique
mechanical
may-kah-NEEK
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
When the reporting verb goes into the past, every tense inside steps one place back. Présent becomes imparfait: « je viens » gives il a dit qu'il venait. Passé composé becomes plus-que-parfait: « j'ai fini » gives il a dit qu'il avait fini.
Et aussi · And also
Futur becomes conditionnel: « je viendrai » gives il a dit qu'il viendrait. Three shifts, and they are the whole of the concordance des temps. The imparfait itself does not move — it is already as far back as it goes.
Attention · Watch out
With the reporting verb in the past: présent becomes imparfait, passé composé becomes plus-que-parfait, futur becomes conditionnel. The imparfait itself does not move.
dire, plus-que-parfait — the table
je avais dit · tu avais dit · il/elle avait dit · nous avions dit · vous aviez dit · ils/elles avaient dit
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il a dit qu'il venait.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out dire, plus-que-parfait in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.