Dernier = final / previous (adjectives that change meaning according to position)

Bonjour Max,

"La fois dernière" a peut-être perdu de sa popularité mais je peux vous assurer que vous entendrez cette expression utilisée dans le langage courant car les français aiment la variété dans leur discours...

D’accord

Et c’est en tout cas « le judgment dernier » selon le Robert qui suggère peut-être qu’il peut en être plus qu’un! 

Hi Theresa-Marie,

... la dernière fois que je t'ai vu(e). -- The last time I saw you.

Her the direct object (te) comes before the participle (vu, vue). In this case the participle needs to match the direct object in gender and number. Therefore, if the speaker is addressing a female, i.e., "te" refers to a female, the participle needs to be vue.

Same sentence, different direct object:

...la dernière fois que je les ai vus. -- The last time I saw them.

"Les" is masculine (or mixed gender) plural, which makes vu becume vus.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Hi Theresa- Marie,

As we don't know who the t' refers to it could be either.

Should probably say 'vu(e)'. Will let Aurélie know...

Bonjour Theresa-Marie !

Yes indeed, "vue" implies that the person addressed here (tu) is a woman.

Have a look at our related lesson on agreement with "avoir":

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/special-cases-when-the-past-participle-agrees-in-number-and-gender-when-used-with-avoir-in-le-passe-compose-conversational-past

Bonne journée !

Hi Michael,

I believe you are focusing on the wrong word here. The issue is not about "that" but about whether it is "the last time" (as in last week) or "the last time" (as in the final and last time).

"C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." -- That was the last time you told me that you loved me. (There won't be a next time.)

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

I don't see any reason to assume "C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." means there won't be a next time.  How would the sentence have been written to indicate the previous time instead of the final time ?

For me both the English phrases could be read either way and there is no context to indicate whether it is the final time or the previous time.

I don't know if the French sentence is ambiguous or not...so it would help to see two phrases, one for the final and one for the previous....to see how they would both be expressed in French.

According to a native French speaker "la fois dernière" sounds stilted and is hardly ever used. She would use "la dernière fois" to express both meanings: the last time ever, as well as the last time in an ongoing succession. -- Chris (not a native speaker).

Hi Michael,

The meaning will depend on the context .

If you say to someone:

"C'est la dernière fois que tu me parles comme ça" , it will sound like an ultimatum, meaning the final time.

Compared with :

"Tu m'as dit ça la dernière fois qu'on s'est vus." = "You told me that the last time we met."

Without more context I can't help you with the example you cite.

 

I am no good with buttons, this is the second question I have pressed too soon! Is it 1/ absolutely everything has "dernier" going after, EXCEPT 2/ if meaning a previous something, unless that previous something is a previous "fois"..

Bonjour Kenneth !

They are interchangeable when used on their own (meaning without a "que" clause) and only to mean "last time".
To express "the last time" (i.e. no more time after this), you can only use "la dernière fois".

I hope that's helpful!
Bonne Année !

The problem with this is in the English answers -- they don't make the necessary distinction between whether it's the FINAL time or the most RECENT time. "C'était la dernière fois que tu m'as dit que tu m'aimais." The answer choices are: It was last time that you told me you loved me. It was the last time you told me you loved me. In English, these sentences have the same meaning. So the quiz should be rewritten to provide an answer that it's the FINAL time. As is, there is no distinction between the two sentences.

Jane,

Je suis tout au fait d'accord.