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French Passé Composé Guide

The passé composé is a French verb tense used to talk about actions completed in the past. It is composed of two parts: an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the present tense plus a past participle. For regular verbs, the past participle is formed by removing the infinitive ending (-er, -ir, -re) and adding appropriate endings (-é, -i, -u). Irregular verb participles also follow patterns but must be memorized. Examples show how to identify the auxiliary verb and conjugate regular and irregular verbs into the passé composé.

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188 views2 pages

French Passé Composé Guide

The passé composé is a French verb tense used to talk about actions completed in the past. It is composed of two parts: an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the present tense plus a past participle. For regular verbs, the past participle is formed by removing the infinitive ending (-er, -ir, -re) and adding appropriate endings (-é, -i, -u). Irregular verb participles also follow patterns but must be memorized. Examples show how to identify the auxiliary verb and conjugate regular and irregular verbs into the passé composé.

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ruthbitutuogoti
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Le passé composé

When to use it: The passé How to form it: There are two parts to passé
composé is a verb tense composé. An easy way to remember this is to
used to talk about actions think of the meaning of the words - this is a verb
that happened in the past tense that talks about the past (passé) and is
and are now complete. composed (composé) of two parts.

The first part is called the auxiliary (also known as the helper verb or, in French,
l’auxiliaire). The second part is the past participle (in French: participe passé). To save
time we use the shortened versions “aux.” and “p.p.” when writing our formula.

Passé composé formula: subject + aux + p.p.

To form the auxiliary (aux), use either the verb “Avoir” or “Être” in the present tense.

J’ai Je suis
Tu as Tu es
Il a Il est
Elle a Elle est
AVOIR ÊTRE
On a On est
Nous avons Nous sommes
Vous avez Vous êtes
Ils ont Ils sont
Elles ont Elles sont

How do you know which aux. to use? Most verbs are conjugated with the verb ‘avoir’.
The exceptions are DR MRS VANDERTRAMP or “house” verbs (ex. aller, monter) and
reflective verbs (ex. se brosser les dents). We will learn more about them later.

To form the past participle (p.p.), you need to know if the verb is regular or irregular.
Here are the rules for conjugating regular verbs as well as some common irregular verbs
into passé composé. Start with the infinitive verb (un-conjugated original verb as you
would see in a dictionary), take off the endings indicated and add the past participle
ending. Take a look at the table on the next page.

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Le passé composé

Verbs conjugated with the aux. AVOIR

The rule Example of past participle (p.p.)

Regular Verbs that end with manger mangé


-ER é
Regular Verbs that end with finir fini
-IR i
Regular Verbs that end with vendre vendu
-RE u
Common Irregular Verbs that end with u Boire bu
Lire lu
Memory tip: look for patterns to help you
memorize these endings. Make a rap or an Devoir dû
image in your mind with these actions. Pouvoir pu
For example, imagine a mouse who could
Venir venu
(pouvoir pu) read (lire lu) who
had to (devoir dû) drink (boire bu) Tenir tenu
his tea. Now that bizarre image can help you Courir couru
memorize all of the irregular verbs that have
Vouloir voulu
2 letters and end with “u”
Attendre attendu
Entendre entendu
Répondre répondu
Common Irregular Verbs that end with -it Conduire conduit
Dire dit
Écrire écrit
Faire fait
Avoir and être as past participles Avoir eu
* to say “had” and “was” for example Être été

Example: Il mange (He eats).


The infinitive verb here is “manger”, a regular -er verb.

Il a mangé. aux a + p.p. mangé

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