The Perfect Tense With Avoir (to have)
The Perfect Tense in French allows us to talk about a completed action in the
past. In English we have two ways of saying this:
E.g.
I did my homework/ I have done my homework
In French the Perfect Tense is formed by using the following rule:
1.
Find the subject of your sentence i.e.
Je,
tu
il,
elle,
on,
nous,
vous,
ils,
elles
2. Then find the correct part of avoir to go with the subject
J’ai
Tu as
Il a
Elle a
On a
Nous avons
Vous avez
Ils ont
Elles ont
3. Finally you then need to add the Past Participle – the thing you have done
To form the Past Participle of Regular –er Verbs you take off the –er and
add é
e.g.
manger - to eat
ecouter – to listen
jouer – to play
regarder – to watch
mangé
ecouté
joué
regardé
To form the Past Participle of Regular –ir Verbs you take off the ir and
add i
e.g.
finir
remplir
fini
rempli
To form the Past Participle of Regular – re Verbs you take off the re and
add u
e.g.
vendre
vendu
You must have all 3 parts to form the Perfect Tense with Avoir correctly
e.g.
Jouer – to play
1 2 3
J’ ai joué - I (have) played
Finir – to finish
1 2 3
Tu as fini – you (have) finished
Vendre – to sell
1 2
3
Il a vendu – he (has) sold
There are many Past Participles of Irregular Verbs. These must just be learned
as there is no rule to govern how they are formed.
Infinitive
Past Participle
Faire – to do
Avoir – to have
Etre – to be
Boire- to drink
Lire – to read
Vouloir – to want
Pouvoir – to be able
fait – did/done
eu – had
été – been
bu – brank/drunk
lu – read
voulu – wanted
pu - could
Remember when forming the Perfect Tense with Avoir: -
YOU HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE!