Steps: Passé Composé
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Know that the passé composé uses two verbs to form the tense. This first, the
auxiliary verb, is either the verb avoir (conjugated) or être (conjugated). The
second is the past participle form of the main verb.
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In French, the end of the second verb changes from its infinitive form
depending on the type of verb you are using.
For all verbs ending in -er (e.g. manger, regarder, parler), replace the -er
ending with -é (e.g. mangé, regardé, parlé). This includes 'aller' to 'allé'.
Passé Composé
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For regular verbs ending in -ir (e.g. finir, choisir), remove the 'r' (e.g. fini,
choisi). This excludes irregular verbs like 'souvenir'.
For regular verbs ending in -re (e.g. répondre, vendre, attendre), you need to
replace the end with -u (e.g. répondu, vendu, attendu). This excludes irregular
verbs like 'battre'.
Like in English, French has many irregular past participles. You just have to
study them, although there are patterns you can find. Some of these are:
mettre --> mis ; naître --> né ; courir --> couru ; prendre --> pris. Most irregular
verbs ending with -oir in the infinitive end with -u in the past participle: vouloir
--> voulu, pouvoir --> pu, savoir --> su, voir --> vu.
Passé Composé
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Learn that you form most of the verbs in the past tense with the auxiliary verb avoir . For
a simple trick you can cut off the end of the verb you need to conjugate; as an
example, we'll use the verb manger (eat): J'ai mangé, Tu as mangé. The
verb avoir is conjugated thus:
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J'ai
Tu as
Il/elle/on a
Nous avons
Vous avez
Ils/Elles ont
1.
Passé Composé
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Study the verbs that use être. These are: monter (to go up) and its derivative
remonter; rester (to stay); venir (to come) and its derivatives revenir, parvenir,
devenir, etc; aller (to go); naître (to be born); sortir (to go out); tomber (to fall);
retourner (to return); arriver (to arrive); mourir (to die); partir (to leave) and its
derivative repartir; entrer (to come in/enter) and its derivative rentrer;
descendre (to go down) and its derivative redescendre.
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These verbs are called "intransitive" verbs; i.e. they can't have any grammatical
objects. An example in English is 'to go'. You cannot "go something" as you
could "eat something" or "finish something", can you? So that verb cannot
take an object and therefore needs to use être instead of avoir.
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Je suis
Tu es
Il/Elle/On est
Nous sommes
Vous êtes
Ils/Elles sont
Passé Composé
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Also, all reflexive or reciprocal verbs use être as their auxiliary when
conjugated in the passé composé (e.g. Elle se lave --> Elle s'est lavée). You
must put the reflexive or reciprocal pronoun between the subject and the être:
Jean s'est brossé les dents.
Passé Composé
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The extra difficulty when you use être is that the past participle needs to
agree with the subject. This is to say that you must add -e if the subject is
feminine and -s if it is plural. The 'e' always comes before the 's'. Let's say you
want to translate "I went". If you take the former method, you should translate
it as "I have gone" - but this time you cannot use 'avoir' because there is no
object in this sentence. So, "I have" will become "I am" (Je suis) and then you
add the past participle, just like we've done before, plus the agreement, if
necessary.[1] As an example we'll use the verb aller (to go): Je suis allé(e), Tu es
allé(e), Il est allé, Elle est allée, Nous sommes allé(e)s, Vous êtes allé(e)(s), Ils
sont allés, and Elles sont allées.
Passé Composé
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Know where to place your object pronouns. You must put your object
pronouns between your subject and the avoir/être: J'y suis allé. Your past
participle must agree with the direct object when the object comes before the
transitive verb. For example, you must write 'Je les ai lavés'.
Passé Composé
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Form negatives around the auxillary verb; e.g. Je ne suis pas allé à Paris. Tu
n'as pas mangé?
Passé Composé
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