Le passé composé
(the perfect tense)
The perfect tense – Le passé
composé
•
In French you use the perfect tense (le
passé composé) to say what you have
done in the past.
• The passé composé is usually formed by
using the present tense of
• avoir and the
• past participle of the verb, just as in
English
Par exemple:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
J’ai joué =
I have played
Nous avons gagné =
We have won
Elle a dormi =
She has slept
Tu as répondu =
You have replied
Auxiliary verb
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
J’
Tu
Il
Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils
Elles
ai
as
a
a
avons
avez
ont
ont
Past participles
• To form the past participle of –er verbs, take the
-er off the infinitive and replace it with
• -é
• Regular –ir verbs form the past participles by
taking off the
• final –r
• Regular
• -re verbs take off the final –re and replace it with
• u
Irregular past participles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Avoir =
Eu
Boire =
Bu
Lire =
Lu
Voir =
vu
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Venir =
Venu
Dire =
Dit
Écrire =
Écrit
Faire =
fait
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Prendre =
Pris
Apprendre =
Appris
Comprendre =
Compris
Mettre =
mis
• In the perfect tense most verbs take the
auxiliary verb
• Avoir
• But some take
• Être
• To help you learn which verbs take être
you can memorise the mnemonic
• MR DAMP’S TAVERN
MR DAMPS TAVERN
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mourir
Retourner
Descendre
Aller
Monter
Partir
Sortir
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tomber
Arriver
Venir
Entrer
Rester
Naitre
Agreement
• Notice that with verbs that take être as the
auxiliary verb, the past
• participle agrees with the subject (the
person or thing doing the action). If the
subject is feminine you must add an extra
• -e and if the subject is plural you must add
an extra
• -s. If it is plural and feminine you must add
• -es!