THE PAST
PARTICIPLE & THE
PERFECT TENSE
2011
LFB1010 - FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS
The Past Participle & the Perfect Tense
2011
The past participle
In English, the past participle is the form of a verb that comes after has/have in the perfect tense:
worked, played, taken, been.
To form the past participle in French, you change the infinitive like this:
-er  -é
travailler to work
travaillé worked
-ir  -i
finir to finish
fini finished
-re  -u
vendre to sell
vendu sold
Not all the verbs follow these patterns. Many have irregular past participles, just as in English does:
lived, played, wanted, finished, decided are regular past participles while given, thought, spent, eaten
are irregular and have to be learnt individually. The irregular ones don’t necessarily coincide in the two
languages.
The past participle of every –er verb ends in –é, even that of aller to go, which is irregular in other
tenses: allé been, gone.
A few –re verbs have a past participle ending in –i: suivre to follow  suivi followed; rire to laugh 
ri laughed; suffire to be enough suffi been enough.
-aindre, -eindre and –oindre verbs have a past participle ending in –t: peindre to paintpeint
painted; craindre to fearcraint feared; joindre to attachjoint attached.
Many –ir verbs which aren’t regular in the present tense still have past participles endings in –i:
dormir to sleepdormi slept; sortir to go outsorti gone out; partir to leaveparti left; servir to
serveservi served.
Verbs in the ouvrir to open group have a past participle ending in –ert: découvrir to
discoverdécouvert discovered; offrir to offeroffert offered
Some – ir verbs that are irregular in the present and future tenses have a past participle ending in –
u: venir to comevenu; tenir to holdtenu held; courir to runcouru run.
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2011
The Past Participle & the Perfect Tense
The perfect tense: i) with avoir
The perfect tense of the majority of verbs is made up of the present tense of avoir to have plus the past
participle of the main verb
Travailler to work
J’
Tu
Il/Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils/elles
ai travaillé
as travaillé
a travaillé
avons travaillé
avez travaillé
ont travaillé
Finir to finish
J’
Tu
Il/Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils/elles
ai fini
as fini
a fini
avons fini
avez fini
ont fini
Vendre to sell
J’
Tu
Il/Elle
Nous
Vous
Ils/elles
ai vendu
as vendu
a vendu
avons vendu
avez vendu
ont vendu
Most negative pairs, e.g. ne…pas, ne…jamais, ne…rien, usually go around the avoir part of the tense,
together with any object pronouns:
Il n’a pas travaillé hier. He didn’t work yesterday
Le roman ‘David Copperfield’ ? Je ne l’ai pas lu. The novel ‘David Copperfield’? I haven’t read it.
But personne no-one and nulle part nowhere go after the past participle:
Je n’ai vu personne. I didn’t see anyone. /I haven’t seen anyone.
Nous ne l’avons trouvé nulle part. We didn’t find him anywhere.
Usually the past participle doesn’t change its ending when used after avoir
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2011
The Past Participle & the Perfect Tense
ii) with être
A small group of verbs use être to be instead of avoir for the perfect tense. Most of them describe
movement or a change of state.
Aller to go
Venir to come
Arriver to arrive
Partir to leave
Naitre to be born
Entrer to enter
Sortir to go out
Monter to go up
Descendre to go down
Mourir to die
Retourner to return
Rentrer to return
Tomber to fall
Rester to stay
Verbs derived from the above verbs also take être: devenir to become, revenir to come back,
ressortir to go out again.
All reflexive verbs take être, e.g. se lever to get up, s’amuser to have a good time, enjoy oneself.
Their past participle is formed exactly the same way as verbs that use avoir, but it has to agree with
the subject:
m
f
je
suis allé
suis allée
tu
es allé
es allée
il/elle
est allé
est allée
nous
sommes allés
sommes allées
vous
êtes allé(s)
êtes allée(s)
ils/elles
sont allés
sont allées
In a mixed group, the past participle is masculine plural :
Luc et Madeleine sont arrivés.
The use of on we is unusual in the perfect tense with être as it take est but the past participle is in
the plural: on est arrivés.
The past participle of reflexive verbs also agrees with the subject in most circumstances
je
tu
il/elle
nous
vous
m
me suis levé
t’es levé
s’est levé
nous sommes levés
vous êtes levé(s)
f
me suis levée
t’es levée
s’est levée
nous sommes levées
vous êtes levée(s)
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The Past Participle & the Perfect Tense
2011
When to use the perfect tense
You use the French perfect tense for both English simple past I worked, I ate, I went and the perfect I
have worked, I have eaten, I have gone.
J’ai acheté deux billets. I (have) bought two tickets.
Il est allé en France. He went to France. /He’s gone to France.
Nous nous sommes bien amusés. We (have) had a good time.
You use the perfect tense in questions starting with did as well as has/have:
Tu as acheté une nouvelle voiture ? Did you buy a new car? /Have you bought a new car?
Il est allé à Londres? Did he go to London? /Has he gone to London?
It’s also used when did is used in a negative:
Elle n’est pas arrivée. She didn’t arrive. /She hasn’t arrived.
The perfect tense is used to describe completed actions or events which occurred once or several
times in the past.
J’ai visité ma mère deux fois l’année dernière. I visited my mother twice last year.
You use the perfect tense in negative sentences containing depuis for, since:
Je ne l’ai pas vu depuis longtemps. I haven’t seen him for a long time.
This is different from the positive sentence with depuis, where you use the present tense:
J’habite ici depuis longtemps. I’ve been living here for a long time.
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