French Recent Past Exercises

Bonjour, dear student! Today, we’re going to dive into a very interesting aspect of the French language, the “Passé Récent” or “Recent Past”. This tense is used to describe events that have happened just a short time ago.

It is a quite practical and frequently used tense in everyday French. You’re already familiar with the construction “Venir de + Infinitive”, aren’t you? If not, don’t worry, you’re going to learn it here and practice it to perfection.

Our exercises will involve sentence arrangement, translation, vocabulary exercises, writing exercises, and even a little bit of guessing game! Let’s get started.

 

 

1) Put the Sentences in the Correct Order – French Recent Past

 

a) vient / mon / travailler / de / père

Mon père vient de travailler.

 

b) viens / de / je / courir

 

c) viens / de / manger / tu / le / gâteau

 

d) de / ils / partir / viennent

 

e) venons / nous / de / arriver

 

f) elle / finir / vient / ses / devoirs / de

 

g) de / je / prendre / une / douche / viens

 

h) vous / acheter / venez / des / livres / de

 

i) viennent / de / ils / perdre / le / match

 

j) de / finir / vient / son / roman / elle

 

2) Translate these Sentences – French Recent Past Exercises

 

a) I just finished my homework.

Je viens de finir mes devoirs.

 

b) She just ate breakfast.

 

c) You just arrived.

 

d) He just left.

 

e) We just started the project.

 

f) They just watched a movie.

 

g) You (formal) just bought a car.

 

h) She just baked a cake.

 

3) Practice your Vocabulary of French Recent Past

 

a) just finished – just arrived – just left

vient de finir – vient d’arriver – vient de partir

 

b) just started - just watched - just bought

 

c) just baked - just read - just slept

 

d) just wrote - just ran - just danced

 

e) just sang - just jumped - just swam

 

f) just played - just listened - just studied

 

g) just ate - just drank - just smiled

 

h) just walked - just spoke - just travelled

 

i) just cooked - just washed - just drove

 

j) just climbed - just flew - just painted

 

k) just laughed - just cried - just worked

 

4) Practice Your Writing by Translating these Small Texts

 

I just finished my lunch. I had a delicious sandwich. After that, I just read a book. It was really interesting. Later, I just went for a run in the park. It was very refreshing.

 

She just completed her homework. It was a bit challenging but she managed. Then, she just baked some cookies. They were very tasty. After that, she just watched a movie. It was a romantic comedy.

 

5) About French Recent Past, Guess the Questions to the Answers

 

a) Je viens de manger. ( Qui…)

Qui vient de manger?

 

b) Tu viens de jouer au tennis. ( Qui...)

 

c) Il vient de finir son travail. ( Qui...)

 

d) Elle vient de lire un livre. ( Qui...)

 

e) Nous venons de regarder un film. ( Qui...)

 

f) Vous venez de prendre le petit déjeuner. ( Qui...)

 

g) Ils viennent de faire du shopping. ( Qui...)

 

h) Elles viennent de courir. ( Qui...)

 

i) On vient de parler à la directrice. ( Qui...)

 

j) Tu viens de voyager à Paris. ( Qui...)

 

k) Je viens de dormir. ( Qui...)

 

Et voilà! You’ve done an excellent job on today’s exercises! Keep practicing what you’ve learned today about the Passé Récent. Remember, practice makes perfect.

You can always go back to these exercises and redo them, or you can try creating your own sentences using the passé récent to tell about recent happenings in your life.

That will solidify your understanding and help you get more comfortable with this tense. French is a beautiful language, and every step you take to understand it better brings you closer to its heart.

 

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