Last time he came, he didn’t behave himself.

Question

I continually get tripped up with this. I interpret the statement as being the last (previous) time so I enter ‘la fois dernière’ which is marked as incorrect. If the correct answer is ‘la dernière fois’ what is it about the statement that tells me that it’s the last (final) time?

Maarten Kamp · Accepted Answer

Richard, it is not a choice between last or final here. There is a clause following la dernière fois - ‘ La dernière fois qu’il est venu….’. 
Have another look at the section in the lesson on special case, the subsection headed ‘But’ …  - when there is a clause following, only “ la dernière fois “ preceding the clause is correct
 https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/adjectives-that-change-meaning-according-to-position-dernier-final-previous