Le Passé Composé Verbs not only need to be conjugated in the present tense but in the past tense as well. This form takes a little more work but we again look at the steps necessary to form the past tense so that we can talk about events that have already happened. To form the past tense we must use one of two base verbs ­ “avoir ­ to have” and “être ­ to be” ­ with the majority of verbs in the past tense using the base of “avoir.” Included in these notes will be steps that will allow us to form the past tense using each of the base verbs. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ We will start by looking at the past tense verbs formed using the base of “​avoir​” Step 1​: Identify the subject. This is who or what is doing the action in the sentence. The most common subjects are as follows: Singulier Pluriel Je (J’) I Nous We Tu You Vous You Il He (It) Ils They Elle She (It) Elles They Step 2​: We need to conjugate the verb “avoir” in the present tense. See the chart below. Present Tense of the Verb ­ avoir Singulier Pluriel J’ ai Nous avons Tu as Vous avez Il a Ils ont Elle a Elles ont Step 3​: Identify our verb to change into the past tense. Remember that there are three types of verb endings. ER verbs (example: parler ­ to speak), IR verbs (example: finir ­ to finish) and RE verbs (example: répondre ­ to answer). These verbs must be changed as well. ER Verbs (Example: parler ­ to speak) 1. Identify the verb
2. Drop the ending 3. Add the correct ending parler parl­ parl​é IR Verbs (Example: finir ­ to finish) 1. Identify the verb
2. Drop the ending 3. Add the correct ending fin­ fin​i finir RE Verbs (Example: répondre ­ to respond, answer) 1. Identify the verb 2. Drop the ending 3. Add the correct ending répond­ répond​u répondre Example: If I was going to say “ ​I spoke ​” I would have a sentence that looks like “ ​J’ai parlé ​” ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ We will next look at the past tense verbs formed using the base of “​être​” Step 1​: Identify the subject. This is who or what is doing the action in the sentence. The most common subjects are as follows: Singulier Pluriel Je (J’) I Nous We Tu You Vous You Il He (It) Ils They Elle She (It) Elles They Step 2​: We need to conjugate the verb “être” in the present tense. See the chart below. Present Tense of the Verb ­ être Singulier Pluriel Je suis Nous sommes Tu es Vous êtesê Il est Ils sont Elle est Elles sont Step 3​: Identify the verb that you want to use. Below is a list of commonly used verbs that use “être” as a base and they follow a fun acronym DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP. Included in the list below is the verb in its infinitive form, its definition in English, and the verb conjugated in the “past tense or passé composé.” DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP Verb English Definition Verb in Passé Composé Devenir to become devenu Rester to stay resté Monter to climb monté Retourner to return retourné Sortir to exit sorti Venir to come venu Aller to go allé Naître to be born né Descendre to descend, go down descendu Entrer to enter entré Rentrer to re­enter rentré Tomber to fall tombé Revenir to come back revenu Arriver to arrive arrivé Mourir to die mort Partir to leave parti Step 4: In the case of using verbs that require être as their base verb, the verb must be made to agree with the subject that is doing the action. This means If the subject is masculine and singular ... We don’t make any changes. Example: Il est tombé If the subject is feminine and singular ... We add an additional “e” to the verb. Example: Elle est tombée If the subject is masculine and plural ... We add an additional “s” to the verb. Example: Ils sont tombés If the subject is feminine and plural ... We add an additional “es” to the verb. Example: Elles sont tombées. If we are unsure who is in a group or it is a mixed group ... We add an additional “s” to the verb. Example: Nous sommes tombés