Before moving on to more complex topics, it's crucial to have a firm grasp of the grammar you learned at the A2 level. Think of this as checking your toolkit. We'll quickly review the most important concepts to make sure your foundation is solid.

In French, you can't get far without bumping into irregular verbs. They don't follow the standard conjugation patterns, but they are some of the most common verbs you'll use. Mastering their present tense forms is non-negotiable for smooth conversation.

Let's review the big ones:

And a few more essential modal and common verbs:

One of the trickiest parts of A2 French is knowing when to use the passé composé and when to use the imparfait. They both describe the past, but they do it in very different ways.

The passé composé is for specific, completed actions. Think of it like a snapshot: it captures a single moment or a finished event. It answers the question, "What happened?"

Hier, j'ai mangé une pomme. (Yesterday, I ate an apple.) - The action is done and over with.

The imparfait, on the other hand, is for descriptions, ongoing actions, or habitual events in the past. It’s like the background scenery in a film. It answers the question, "What was going on?" or "What was it like?"

Quand j'étais petit, je mangeais une pomme tous les jours. (When I was little, I used to eat an apple every day.) - This describes a habit.

Often, you'll see them together in the same sentence. The imparfait sets the scene, and the passé composé describes the action that interrupted it.

Je lisais un livre quand le téléphone a sonné. (I was reading a book when the phone rang.)

Reflexive verbs describe an action the subject does to itself, like se laver (to wash oneself) or se lever (to get up). When you put them in the passé composé, they have a special rule: they always use être as the auxiliary verb, not avoir.

This means the past participle has to agree in gender and number with the subject.

• Il s'est levé à 8h. (He got up at 8am.)
• Elle s'est levée à 8h. (She got up at 8am.)
• Ils se sont levés à 8h. (They [masculine] got up at 8am.)
• Elles se sont levées à 8h. (They [feminine] got up at 8am.)

For negative sentences, the ne comes before the reflexive pronoun and the pas comes after the auxiliary verb être.

Elle ne s'est pas levée tôt. (She did not get up early.)

While you may have used the futur proche (aller + infinitive) to talk about the near future, the futur simple is used for more distant plans, predictions, or formal statements about the future.

Forming it is straightforward for regular verbs. You just take the infinitive form of the verb and add the future endings:

For example, with parler (to speak):

Demain, je parlerai avec le patron. (Tomorrow, I will speak with the boss.)

Some of the most common verbs have irregular stems, but they still use the same endings. You'll just need to memorize them.

• être becomes ser- (e.g., je serai)
• avoir becomes aur- (e.g., tu auras)
• aller becomes ir- (e.g., il ira)
• faire becomes fer- (e.g., nous ferons)

With these concepts refreshed, you're in a great position to tackle new material. Let's review.

Now, let's see how well you remember these rules with a few questions.

Solidifying this grammar is a huge step. With a strong A2 foundation, you're ready to build more complex and nuanced sentences as you move forward.