formation
Above is the formula to write a verb in the
passé composé. Both pieces are needed.
Most verbs in French use avoir as the helping
verb. In the present tense, avoir means to
have but in the past tense, it does not
translate. It is simply there to help.
Avoir
J’ai
Nous avons
Tu as
Vous avez
Il a
ils ont
Elle a
elles ont
On a
After choosing the correct form of the verb avoir,
the next step is to add the past participle.
To turn a verb in to a past participle, the following
rules apply:
Regular –er verbs: change –er to é
Modèle: chanter: chanté
Regular –ir verbs: change –ir to i
Modèle: finir: fini
Regular –re verbs: change –re to u
Modèle: vendre: vendu
Passé composé = helping verb (usually avoir) +
past participle
-er verbs
1. J’ai joué. I played
2. Tu as mangé. You ate.
3. Il a regardé la télé. He watched TV.
4. Nous avons dîné. We dined.
5. Vous avez aimé. You liked.
6. Ils ont écouté. They listened.
Many verbs have irregular past participles. For
the following verbs, use avoir as the helping
verb along with the correct past participle.
Common irregular past participles:
faire: fait
devoir: dû
avoir: eu
dormir: dormi
être: été
vouloir: voulu
voir: vu
écrire: écrit
mettre: mis
conduire: conduit
prendre: pris
boire: bu
 J’ai
fait mes devoirs.
 I did my homework.
 Nous avons mis nos manteaux.
 We put on our coats.
 Vous avez pris mon crayon?
 Did you take my pencil?
 Elles ont bu de la limonade.
 They drank lemonade.
 Tu as écrit à ton amie?
 Did you write to your friend?
Two groups of verbs take être as a helping
verb. First let’s review the conjugation of être:
je suis
tu es
il est
elle est
nous sommes
vous êtes
ils sont
elles sont
In the present tense, être means to be but this
does not translate in the passé composé; like
avoir it is simply there to help.
 Use
the above acronym to help you
remember the verbs that take être as a
helping verb.
 M: monter: to go up
 R: revenir: to come back
 S: sortir: to leave
 D:
devenir: to become
 R: rentrer: to return
 V:
venir: to come
 A: aller: to go
 N: naître: to be born
 D: descendre: to go down, descend
 E: entrer: to enter
 R: retourner: to return
 T: tomber: to fall
 R: rester: to stay
 A: arriver: to arrive
 M: monter: to go up
 P: partir: to leave
 P: passer: to pass by
 monter:
monté
 revenir: revenu
 sortir: sorti
 devenir: devenu
 rentrer: rentré
 venir: venu
 aller: allé
 naître: né
 descendre: descendu
 entrer: entré
 retourner: retourné
 tomber:
tombé
 rester: resté
 arriver: arrivé
 monter: monté
 partir: parti
 passer: passé
*when passer is used to mean to spend
time, use avoir as a helping verb.
All verbs that take être as a helping verb must
agree in gender and number with the subject.
 Francine
est sortie.
 Francine went out. Notice the extra e on the
past participle to reflect the gender of the
subject.
 Suzanne et Amélie sont allées au
supermarché.
 Suzanne and Amélie went to the
supermarket. allées reflects a feminine
plural subject.
 Franck et Guillaume sont venus à la boum.
 Franck and Guillaume came to the party. S is
added to reflect masculine plural.
 Elle
est tombée dans la rue.
 She fell in the street. Feminine singular
subject. One e is added to the past
participle.
 Il est né en France.
 He was born in France. Masculine singular
subject; therefore no e or s is added.
 Vous êtes arrivées a l’heure?
 Did you arrive on time? Vous can be singular
or plural, masculine or feminine. The past
participle arrivées indicates a feminine
plural subject.
 Reflexive
verbs also take être as a helping
verb in the passé composé. Many reflexive
verbs are also regular –er verbs.
 se réveiller: to wake up
 se lever: to get up
 se brosser les dents: to brush one’s teeth
 se raser: to shave
 se peigner: to comb one’s hair
 se dépêcher: to hurry
 se reposer: to rest
 se
maquiller: to put on make-up
 s’habiller: to get dressed
 se laver: to wash
 s’amuser: to have fun
 s’appeler: to call oneself
 In
terms of conjugation, the only difference
between the above verbs and regular –er
verbs is the reflexive pronoun.
se lever
Je me suis levé: I got up
tu t’es levé: you got up
il s’est levé: he got up
elle s’est levée: she got up
on s’est levé(e)s (On can be singular or plural,
masculine or feminine)
nous nous sommes levé(e)s (this could be
masculine or feminine but is always plural)
vous vous êtes levé(e)(s) (this could be
masculine, feminine, singular or plural)
ils se sont levés: they got up
elles se sont levées: they (females) got up.
 Mrs
DR Vandertrampp and reflexive verbs
take être as a helping verb and must show
agreement.
 All others take avoir and do not show
agreement (There are exceptions to this but
let’s not get carried away at this point. If it
takes avoir, don’t show agreement)
 Memorize the Vandertrampp verbs to
recognize when to use être.
 Remember that reflexive verbs also take
être.
 All other verbs take avoir.
 specific,
one time events.
 main events that move the story forward.
 When telling a story, the actions that
indicate what happened
 well-defined actions completed at a specific
point in time
 described what people did, what took place,
what happened