What is the passé composé?
The passé composé is the most important past tense
in French. It corresponds to the English simple past or
sometimes the present perfect. The passé
composé talks about actions that were completed in
the past and emphasises their results or consequences
in the present. In spoken language, the passé
composé is always used instead of the passé simple. We
form the passé composé using the auxiliary verbs avoir
or être followed by the past participle (le participe
passé) of the verb.
When to use the passé
composé in French
0We use the passé composé to talk about one-
time, completed actions that took place in the
past. This tense places the emphasis on the
result or consequences of the action.
0Example:Hier, Michel a rangé son bureau.one-
time action in the pastIl a décidé de ranger son
bureau chaque semaine.one-time past action
with a connection to the present: He doesn’t
want to be so untidy anymore.
Person avoir Participle être Participle
1st person
j’ai je suis
singular (I)
2nd person
tu as tu es
singular (you)
3rd person parti
singular (he/sh il/elle/on a aimé il/elle/on est partie
e/it) fini
partis
vendu
1st person parties
nous avons nous sommes
plural (we)
2nd person
vous avez vous êtes
plural (you)
3rd person
ils/elles ont ils/elles sont
plural (they)
0 In negative sentences, the past participle comes
after the second part of the negation (pas).
0 Example:J’ai rigolé. → Je n’ai pas rigolé.
Je suis parti.→ Je ne suis pas parti. For reflexive
verbs, the reflexive pronoun comes after the first
part of the negation (ne) and before the auxiliary
verb (avoir/être).
0 Example:Je ne me suis pas trompé dans mon calcul.
Avoir or être?
0 Most verbs construct the passé
composé with avoir, however être is used as the auxiliary
verb in the following cases:
0 with 14 verbs of motion and staying
still: naître/mourir, aller/venir, monter/descendre, arriver/
partir, entrer/
sortir, apparaître, rester, retourner, tomber and their
related forms such
as: revenir, rentrer, remonter, redescendre, repartir.Exampl
e:Je suis arrivé à la gare.
0 with reflexive verbsExample:Je me suis trompé dans mon
calcul.
Participe passé: the past
participle
0 For regular er/ir/re-verbs, the participe passé is easy to
construct:
0 If the infinitive ends in -er, the participle ends
in éExample:aimer – aimé
0 If the infinitive ends in -ir, the participle ends
in iExample:finir – fini
0 If the infinitive ends in -re, the participle ends in u
Example:vendre - vendu
0 For the irregular verbs, however, we have to look up the past
participle form in the list of irregular verbs or check the
verb conjugator — or simply learn the forms by heart.
French Past Participle
After you’ve conjugated avoir or être in the
present tense, you then add the “main”
verb in the past participle.
Regular ER Parler = parlé
verbs = é
Regular IR Fini = fini
verbs = i
Regular RE verbs = u Vendre = vendu
Irregular verbs in Faire = fait
IRE = it Dire = dit
Erire – écrit
Conduire – conduit
Many irregular verbs = u Venir = venu
Tenir = tenu
Devoir = dû
Pouvoir = pu
Vouloir = voulu
Lire = lu
Boire = bu
Attendre = attendu
Entendre = entendu
Courir = couru
Répondre = répondu
Agreement of the participe
passé
0 For some verbs, the participe passé has to agree in gender and
number with either the subject or the object of the sentence.
This agreement is necessary in the following situations:
0 When a verb takes être as a help verb the participle agrees in
gender and number with the subject.Example:Il est allé dans
son bureau.
Elle est allée dans son bureau.
Ils sont allés dans leurs bureaux.
Elles sont allées dans leurs bureaux.
0 For verbs that take avoir in the passé composé, the participle
only agrees in gender and number with a direct object that
comes before the verb. This direct object can take three
possible forms: a personal pronoun (me, te, le, la, nous, vous,
les), the relative pronoun que, or a noun placed before the
verb (usually in questions and exclamations).Example:Il a
rangé son bureau. → Il l'a rangé.
Il a rangé sa chambre. → Il l'a rangée.
Il a rangé ses dossiers. → Il les a rangés.
Il a rangé ses cartes de visite. → Il les a rangées.
0In the case of reflexive verbs (which always
take être as their auxiliary in the passé
composé), the participle generally agrees with
the subject.Example:Nous nous sommes
levés très tôt.However, the past participle
does not agree if the verb is followed by a
direct object.
Example:Elle s’est lavé les mains. (What did
she wash? – her hands)
Many irregular verbs Faire = fait
in IRE = it Dire = dit
Erire – écrit
Conduire – conduit
Avoir eu
Être été
