Gap-fill
Venir de + infinitive: a French recent-past gap-fill
Use je viens de finir and nous venons d’arriver in a station reunion story. Practise venir forms, elision and the past viewpoint je venais de.
- A2
- 8 gaps
- Translation included
- Learn this in the A2 notebook →
In short
Venir de + infinitive means “to have just done something”: je viens de finir. Conjugate venir, keep de and leave the action in the infinitive. Before a vowel, use d’: nous venons d’arriver.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
| Subject | Start of the sentence |
|---|---|
| je | viens de |
| tu | viens de |
| il / elle / on | vient de |
| nous | venons de |
| vous | venez de |
| ils / elles | viennent de |
Je viens de la gare.I’m coming from the station.
Focus: a place after de
Elle vient de Lyon.
She comes from Lyon.
Je viens d’arriver.I’ve just arrived.
Focus: an infinitive after de
Elle vient de terminer ses études.
She has just finished her studies.
The action may be short, like arriving, or long, like finishing a degree. “Just” describes how recently it ended. For the story below, everyone is speaking about events that have just happened now. Fill in the present form of venir, de / d’, or the infinitive named in the hint.
A reunion at the station
Find:
On se retrouve enfin
Nora attend Sami devant la gare. Son téléphone sonne. « Je (venir, je) d’arriver », dit Sami. « Le train (venir, il) de s’arrêter. Tu es où ? » Nora répond : « Je suis devant l’entrée. Je viens (acheter, after viens) mon billet pour le retour. »
Sami rejoint Nora. « Tu as reçu mon message ? — Oui, je viens de le (lire). Les autres sont déjà là ? — Ils (venir, ils) de sortir du train. Nous (venir, nous) de nous parler. Ils arrivent. »
Deux amis les rejoignent. Nora sourit : « Vous (venir, vous) de faire un long voyage. On va prendre un café ? — Bonne idée ! Nous venons (de or d’) poser notre valise et nous avons enfin le temps de discuter. »
Read it in English
Nora is waiting for Sami outside the station. Her phone rings. “I’ve just arrived,” says Sami. “The train has just stopped. Where are you?” Nora replies: “I’m outside the entrance. I’ve just bought my ticket for the return journey.”
Sami joins Nora. “Did you get my message? — Yes, I’ve just read it. Are the others here already? — They’ve just got off the train. We’ve just spoken. They’re coming.”
Two friends join them. Nora smiles: “You’ve just had a long journey. Shall we have a coffee? — Good idea! We’ve just put our suitcase down and we finally have time to chat.”
How do you say “had just” in French?
Sami venait d’arriver quand Nora a téléphoné.
Sami had just arrived when Nora phoned.
Venait is the imparfait. The arrival is recent relative to the phone call.
The action verb stays in the infinitive in both viewpoints: vient d’arriver and venait d’arriver. For a reflexive action, put its pronoun before the infinitive: je viens de me réveiller. With a regular completed event, the passé composé gives j’ai terminé; je viens de terminer adds the sense of a fresh completion.