Goal: To introduce the future tense with aller and the past tense with avoir. 

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Tenses are what tells you when something happens. For example:

I was at the store. 
I am at the store. 
I will be at the store.

These three sentences have the same content in three different tenses. In English, sometimes the verb "to go" is used to convey the future tense:

I'm going to the store. 
Are you going to come?

Sometimes the verb "to have" is used to convey the past tense:

I have been there before. 
We have shopped there for years.

In French, the verb "to go" is often used for future tense and the verb "to have" is often used for past tense. These are some more links between English and French!

In French, the future tense is sometimes indicated with the verb "aller" (to go). This specific tense is known as the futur proche. 
Consider the following sentence:

Je suis au magasin (I am at the store).

This sentence is in the present tense, meaning that it is happening NOW. To make this sentence happen in the future, insert the appropriate conjugation of "aller" between the subject and the verb. Change the original verb back to its unconjugated (infinitive) form.

Je suis au magasin 
becomes 
Je vais être au magasin. (I'm going to be at the store)

Let's try this with some other sentences. Remember, the old verb must go back to its infinitive, unconjugated form!

Elle a une voiture (She has a car)
becomes 
Elle va avoir une voiture. (She's going to have a car)

Nous aimons chocolat (We like chocolate)
becomes 
Nous allons aimer chocolat. (We're going to like chocolate)

Ils prennent des fruits (They take some fruit)
becomes 
Ils vont prendre des fruits. (They're going to take some fruit.)

IMPORTANT! 
When you use the futur proche to indicate the future, it also shows that something will definately happen. If you're unsure of whether or not something will happen, use the simple future tense (described in lesson 10).

The past tense is known in French as "le passé composé," or "the composed past." It is a composed tense in that it is comprised of two parts:  a helping verb conjugation, and a past participle.  In French, the helping verb may be either "avoir" (to have) or "être" (to be). On this page, you will learn the passé composé with "avoir." To learn the passé composé with être, see lesson 10.

Let's use the example from above, Je suis au magasin.

To make this sentence happen in the past, first remove the original verb conjugation (in this instance, suis). Then insert the appropriate conjugation of "avoir" (in this instance, ai). Finally, insert a special past tense form of the original verb (the past participle). Look at the following chart.

In the example sentence Je suis au magasin, insert the appropriate conjugation of avoir and place été (the past form of être, see above) after it.

Je suis au magasin (I am at the store)
becomes 
J'ai été au magasin. (I have been at the store)

Basically, "I am at the store" became "I was at the store" or "I have been at the store." Let's put some other sentences into the past tense.

Elles aiment nager (They like to swim)
becomes 
Elles ont aimé nager (They have liked to swim)

Vous finissez (You finish)
becomes 
Vous avez fini. (You have finished)

Nous attendons Marie (We wait for Marie)
becomes 
Nous avons attendu Marie (We have waited for Marie)

Remember the two steps:

Insert the appropriate conjugation of "avoir"

Replace the original verb with a special past tense form.