The passé
composé is a compound conjugation, which means it has two parts:
1.
Present tense of the auxiliairy verb (either avoir or être)
2.
past participle of the main verb
The passé composé can express any of the following:
I. An action completed in the past
As-tu étudié ce weekend ?
Did you study this weekend?
Ils ont déjà mangé.
They have already eaten.

When the auxiliary verb is être, the past participle must agree with the subject
French passé composé conjugations
j'
tu
il,
elle
je
tu
il
elle
ai aimé
as aimé
a aimé
AIMER (auxiliary verb is avoir)
nous avons aimé
vous avez aimé
ils,
ont aimé
elles
suis devenu(e)
es devenu(e)
DEVENIR (être)
nous
vous
est devenu
est devenue
ils
elles
sommes devenu(e)s
êtes devenu(e)(s)
vous êtes devenu(e)
sont devenus
sont devenues
II. An action repeated a number of times in the past
Oui, j'ai mangé cinq fois hier.
Yes, I did eat five times yesterday.
Nous avons visité Paris plusieurs fois.
We've visited Paris several times.
III. A series of actions completed in the past
Quand je suis arrivé, j'ai vu les fleurs.
When I arrived, I saw the flowers.
Samedi, il a vu sa mère, a parlé au médicin et a trouvé un chat.
Saturday he saw his mother, talked to the doctor, and found a cat.
(formal)
The passé composé has three possible English equivalents. For example, j'ai dansé can mean
1.
2.
3.
I danced (simple past)
I have danced (present perfect)
I did dance (past emphatic)
The Story* of Dr. & Mrs. P. Vandertramp
This story is of Dr. & Mrs. P. Vandertramp, a couple which lived in the house of être.
Their house was in Paris close to the Seine river. Everybody knew that for the best doctor care, they would call on Dr.
Vandertramp. One day, Dr. Vandertramp was tending to a sick little student who was suffering with a terrible headache. The
headache was caused because he did not know the verbs that use être in the past tense. Just as luck would have it, Mrs.
Vandertramp came home and noticed the sick student. Mrs. Vandertramp spent some time during the American Civil War
helping soldiers learn the French language.
"Maybe
"How
my
can
wife
I
can
help
help
you,"
you,"
asked
said
Dr.
Mrs.
Vandertramp.
"She
Vandertramp,
"What
taught
is
French
causing
for
this
many
years."
headache?"
"I don't know the verbs that take être in the past tense," cried the student, "I have a test tomorrow over the words! If I fail the
test, my parents will severely punish me."
So Mrs. Vandertramp agreed to help the student with his problem. She showed the student a mnemonic device that he could use
for the test. The device was based on the doctor's name.
D escendre
R ester
&
M onter
R evenir
S ortir
P asser
V enir
A ller
N aitre
D evenir
E ntrer
R etourner
T omber
R entrer
A rriver
M ourrir
P Artir
After the student saw the device, his headache amazingly disappeared! "I think I can do it," cried the student, as he rushed home
to study the device. The student returned a week later to let the couple know that he received an A on the test, and that his
parents were so proud of him! His parents had recently moved to France from America, and they wanted their son to succeed.
To show their gratitude, the parents baked the Vandertramps a beautiful American apple pie! And the rest, as they say, is
history...
* This story is pure fiction. Any names used living or dead is purely coincidental.
Passé composé 1. Nous aimons
2. Il parle
3. Tu finis
4. J'apprends
5. Elles ont
6. Vous êtes
7. Tu veux
8. Nous choisissons
9. Elle sait
10. Je crois
11. Ils prennent
12. Vous étudiez
13. Elle pense
14. Nous lisons
15. Je dis
16. Tu réponds
17. Elles abolissent
18. Vous mettez
19. On ouvre
20. Je connais