LE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ
(THE PERFECT TENSE)
The Perfect Tense (le Passé Composé) is used to describe single completed
actions in the past. The perfect tense also translates the English meaning
“to have done”, “to have been doing”.
J’ai mangé un sandwich hier
I ate a sandwich yesterday
Elle a terminé ses devoirs
She has finished her homework
Great so how do we form it?
The perfect tense has 2 parts:
1. The auxiliary/helping verb (either the
present tense of avoir or être)
2. The past participle
1
NB* When
constructing the
perfect tense in
French, most verbs
will use avoir as
the auxiliary verb.
What the heck is a past participle?!!!
In English, past participles end in:
In French, past participles end in:
ED
– played, looked, travelled
É
– caché, joué, regardé
EN
– hidden, forgotten, stolen
I
– fini, parti, agrandi
T
U
– brought, caught, lost
– répondu, vendu, détendu
In order to form the past participle, we must first
remove the infinitive ending from the verb:
NB* the infinitive is the base
form of the verb and in
TRAVAILLER
TRAVAILL
French there are three types
identified by the endings
FINIR
FIN
ER/IR/RE. In English,
infinitives can be recognized
RÉPONDRE
RÉPOND
1. INFINITIVE
2. STEM
by the preposition TO coming
before the verb i.e.
TO GO/TO PLAY/TO TALK
This leaves us with the verb stem to which we add the past participle
endings:
TRAVAILLER
TRAVAILL
TRAVAILLÉ
FINIR
FIN
FINI
RÉPONDRE
RÉPOND
RÉPONDU
1. INFINITIVE
2. STEM
3. PAST PARTICIPLE
2
We’re all set then?
PRESENT TENSE OF AVOIR
PAST PARTICIPLE
J’AI
ER > É
TU AS
IR > I
IL/ELLE/ON A
RE > U
NOUS AVONS
IRREGULAR
PERFECT TENSE (AVOIR)
VOUS AVEZ
ILS/ELLES ONT
EXAMPLES: ELLE A + VENDU = ELLE A VENDU (SHE SOLD)
NOUS AVONS + JOUÉ = NOUS AVONS JOUÉ (WE PLAYED)
ILS ONT + FINI = ILS ONT FINI (THEY HAVE FINISHED)
Sorted! Anything else I need to know?
Unfortunately, not all past participles follow these rules. The following is a
list of irregular avoir verbs with their past participles. You must learn these
thoroughly:
AVOIR (TO HAVE)
BOIRE (TO DRINK)
COMPRENDRE (TO UNDERSTAND)
CONDUIRE (TO DRIVE)
CONNAÎTRE (TO KNOW)
COURIR (TO RUN)
CROIRE (TO BELIEVE)
DEVOIR (TO HAVE TO)
DIRE (TO SAY)
ÉCRIRE (TO WRITE)
ÊTRE (TO BE)
FAIRE (TO DO/MAKE)
EU
BU
COMPRIS
CONDUIT
CONNU
COURU
CRU
DÛ
DIT
ÉCRIT
ÉTÉ
FAIT
LIRE (TO READ)
METTRE (TO PUT)
OUVRIR (TO OPEN)
POUVOIR (TO BE ABLE)
PLEUVOIR (TO RAIN)
PRENDRE (TO TAKE)
RECEVOIR (TO RECEIVE)
RIRE (TO LAUGH)
SAVOIR (TO KNOW)
TENIR (TO HOLD)
VIVRE (TO LIVE)
VOIR (TO SEE)
VOULOIR (TO WANT)
3
LU
MIS
OUVERT
PU
PLU
PRIS
REÇU
RI
SU
TENU
VÉCU
VU
VOULU
THE PERFECT TENSE WITH ÊTRE
Not all verbs in French use avoir in the Perfect Tense. The following verbs
use être as the auxiliary/ helping verb. Use the mnemonic “Mrs
Vandertramp” to help you remember them.
NB* only 3 of these verbs have an irregular past participle (as indicated
below). See if you can fill in the regular past participles for the other verbs.
Monter (
Retourner (
Sortir (
Venir* (VENU)
Arriver (
Naître (NÉ)
Descendre (
Entrer (
Rester (
Tomber (
Rentrer (
Aller (
Mourir (MORT)
Partir (
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
MRS. VANDERTRAMP
LOVES TO TALK ABOUT FRANCE
SO IF YOU’RE STUCK WITH YOUR VERBS
AND CAN’T REMEMBER A WORD
SHE’LL MAKE SURE YOU’RE IN WITH A CHANCE!
)
)
)
)
*Also includes prefixed verbs DEVENIR, REVENIR
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You can also use the funky castle which illustrates the meaning of these
verbs.
5
So we use être instead of avoir, anything else different?
Another crucial difference with these verbs is that the subject and the past
participle agree. In other words, the past participle functions like an
adjective. Compare the following examples:
The subject of our verb is feminine i.e. “elle”(she). We
therefore add an extra e to the end of the past participle.
Elle est allée en ville
She went into town
The subject of our verb is plural i.e.
“nous”(we). We therefore add an s to the
end of the past participle
Nous sommes descendus du train
We got off the train
The subject of our verb is feminine
plural i.e. “Claire et Julie”. We
therefore add an es to the end of
the past participle
Claire et Julie sont arrivées hier soir
Claire and Julie arrived yesterday evening
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Using the verb sortir as an example, the following is a table showing all the
possible combinations the past participle can have:
JE SUIS
TU ES
IL EST
ELLE EST
ON EST
NOUS SOMMES
VOUS ÊTES
ILS SONT
ELLES SONT
SORTI (E)
SORTI (E)
SORTI
SORTIE
SORTI (E) (S) (ES)
SORTI (S) (ES)
SORTI (S) (ES)
SORTIS
SORTIES
Good to go then!
PRESENT TENSE OF ÊTRE
PAST PARTICIPLE
JE SUIS
ER > É
TU ES
IR > I
IL/ELLE/ON EST
RE > U
NOUS SOMMES
IRREGULAR
VOUS ÊTES
ILS/ELLES SONT
7
PERFECT TENSE (ÊTRE)
THE PERFECT TENSE WITH ÊTRE
(REFLEXIVE VERBS)
Stop there a sec, what are Reflexive Verbs?
These are verbs where the subject performs the action on itself:
SE LEVER (TO GET ONESELF UP)
S’HABILLER (TO GET ONESELF DRESSED)
SE LAVER (TO WASH ONESELF)
We can identify reflexive verbs by their reflexive pronouns which always
agree with the verb’s subject:
JE
TU
IL/ELLE/ON
NOUS
VOUS
ILS/ELLES
ME
TE
SE
NOUS
VOUS
SE
Ok then, so what happens with these verbs in the Perfect Tense?
Simple, all reflexive verbs take être in the Perfect Tense.
PRESENT TENSE OF ÊTRE +
REFLEXIVE PRONOUN
PAST PARTICIPLE
JE ME SUIS
ER > É
TU T’ES
IR > I
IL/ELLE/ON S’EST
RE > U
NOUS NOUS SOMMES
IRREGULAR
VOUS VOUS ÊTES
ILS/ELLES SE SONT
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PERFECT TENSE
(REFLEXIVE VERBS)