Passé Composé

The Perfect Tense

Le passé composé is the most commonly used form of the past tense in French. Once you

know it, you will be able to express a huge range of ideas in spoken form. It is also a

platform for other tenses, including the pluperfect [Plus-que-parfait], future perfect [futur

antérieur], past conditional [passé du conditionnel], past anterior [passé antérieur] and the

passé surcomposé. While the prospect of learning all these additional tenses may frighten

you, I can assure them that you will find them easy if you simply get a good mastery of the

passé composé.

Le passé composé is also called the conversational past tense, and is used when talking

about an action that was completed at a definite time in the past. The English equivalent is

“I asked; she said; we went.” However, in form, it is like “I have asked; she has said; we have

been.”

Form

Le passé composé is a compound tense, which means that it has two parts: the auxiliary

verb and the past participle. The auxiliary verb is either the present form of avoir or être.

J’ai vu Tu as eu Il a parlé

I saw You had He spoke

Past Participles

The past participle is the last word in all of the phrases [vu, eu, parlé].

Short adverbs, like bien, are placed before the past participle. However, others, like

lentement, are placed after it.

Elle a bien chanté Elle a chanté lentement

She sang well She sang slowly

Regular –er Verbs

Regular -er verbs drop the –er from the infinitive and replace it with –é to form the past

participle.

parler – to speak

parlé

j’ai parlé nous avons parlé

tu as parlé vous avez parlé

il/ elle/ on a parlé ils/ elles ont parlé

-ir Verbs

Although many –ir verbs are irregular in the present tense, some of these still have regular

past participles. The –ir is replaced with –i

dormir – to sleep

dormi

j’ai dormi nous avons dormi

tu as dormi vous avez dormi

il/ elle/ on a dormi ils/ elles ont dormi

-re Verbs

Again, although many –re verbs are irregular in the present tense, some of them still have

regular past participles. The –re is replaced with –u.

répondre – to respond

répondu

j’ai répondu nous avons répondu

tu as répondu vous avez répondu

il/ elle/ on a répondu ils/ elles ont répondu

Irregular Past Participles

Note that many of these can be grouped together:

Infinitive English Past Participle

être to be été

rire to laugh ri

sourire to smile souri

suffire to suffice suffi

suivre to follow suivi

acquérir to acquire, purchase acquis

conquérir to conquer, capture conquis

mettre to put mis

prendre to take pris

apprendre to learn appris

comprendre to understand compris

surprendre to surprise surprise

reprendre to recapture repris

dire to say dit

écrire to write écrit

décrire to describe décrit

conduire to take/ drive sb somewhere

conduit

construire to construct, build construit

cuire to cook cuit

détruire to destroy détruit

produire to produce produit

recontruire to reconstruct reconstruit

traduire to translate traduit

faire to do, make fait

connaître to know connu

reconnaître to recognise reconnu

paraître to appear paru

apparaître to appear apparu

disparaître to disappear disparu

tenir to hold tenu

convenir to admit (que, de)

to suit (à)

convenu

courir to run, race couru

secourir to help, assist secouru

plaire to please plu

déplaire to displease déplu

se taire to be quiet, still tu

devoir to have to dû

décevoir to disappoint déçu

apercevoir to see, notice apercu

concevoir to imagine, conceive of conçu

recevoir to receive reçu

avoir to have eu

boire to drink bu

croire to believe cru

pouvoir to be able pu

savoir to know su

voir to see vu

falloir to have to fallu

pleuvoir to rain plu

valoir to be worth valu

vouloir to want voulu

lire to read lu

élire to elect élu

vivre to live vécu

survivre to survive survécu

ouvrir to open ouvert

couvrir to cover couvert

découvrir to discover découvert

offrir to give offert

souffrir to suffer souffert

craindre to fear craint

plaindre to pity, complain plaint

atteindre to achieve atteint

éteindre to extinguish éteint

peindre to paint peint

joindre to join joint

Verbs Conjugated with Avoir

The vast majority of verbs in French are conjugated with avoir in the passé composé. The

form, as seen earlier, is simply to use avoir in the present tense, and then the past participle

of the verb. Under most circumstances, the past participle does not alter based on gender

or number.

J’ai craint I feared

Il a lu He read

Vous avez fait You did/ made

Agreement of the Past Participle

With avoir, there is only agreement of the past participle if a direct object is placed before

the verb.

Elle a mangé les pommes She ate the apples

Elle les a mangées She ate them

**The –e- is added because apples are a feminine word, and the –s is added

because it is in the plural.

- - Don’t forget that it is still pronounced the same way!!!

Also, the participle agrees if the direct object is before the subject.

Voilà les photos que j’ai prises Here are the photos that I took

When the –e is added to the past participle of the verb in the feminine form, the

pronunciation usually stays the same. It only changes if the participle ends in a consonant.

pris [pree] prise [preez]

The same goes for adding the –s in the plural.

Exceptions to the Extra Letters

Some past participles do not change, even to agree with a direct object.

avoir eu Does not change at all

prendre pris Does not change for plural masculine

pris, prise, prises -- never: priss

Also, when there is an infinitive verb used after the participle, which relates to the direct

object, there is no change

les tâches qu’elle a dû compléter the tasks that she had to do

There are also some verbs that are used with a unit of price, weight, distance, time, length,

etc. These are invariable and do not change to agree with the direct object.

les deux heures que j’ai couru the two hours that I ran for

les cent kilos que j’ai pesé the 100kg that I weighed

Be careful here, though, because sometimes they still agree:

les dangers que j’ai courus the dangers that I ran from

les paquets que j’ai pesés the packets that I weighed

Verbs Conjugated with être

There are only a few verbs which are conjugated with être. If it helps you to remember

them, you should note that most of these verbs involve displacement (i.e. moving).

However, this is not strictly the case.

aller to go allé

venir to come venu

entrer to enter entré

sortir to leave, go out sorti

arriver to arrive arrivé

partir to leave parti

monter to go up, get on monté

descendre to go down, get off descendu

naître to be born né

mourir to die mort

revenir to come back revenu

retourner to go back retourné

tomber to fall tombé

rester to stay resté

rentrer to return rentré

devenir to become devenu

Most of these can be remembered as pairs of opposites.

With these verbs, the past participle agrees with the subject based on number and gender.

je suis allé(e) nous sommes allé(e)s

tu es allé(e) vous êtes allé(e)(s)

il, on est allé ils sont allés

elle est allée elles sont allées

Verbs that are used with être and avoir

There are a few verbs which can be used with être or avoir, depending on the context they

are used in. These are:

monter

descendre

sortir

entrer

rentrer

They only use avoir when they have direct objects.

elle est montée she went up

elle a monté l’escalier she went up the stairs

The verb passer can also take both être and avoir, however the rules for this verb are

different.

It is used with être when it means:

to pass by

to come by

to stop by

to be over

It is used with avoir when it means:

to spend time

to take an exam

sa vie est passée her life is over

elle a passé son examen de français en novembre she took her French exam in November

Reflexive Verbs in the Passé Composé

All reflexive verbs are used with être in the passé composé. The reflexive pronoun is placed

after the subject and before the verbs.

je me suis assis(e) nous nous sommes assis(es)

tu t’es assis(e) vous vous êtes assis(es)

il, on s’est assis ils se sont assis

elle s’est assise elles se sont assises

Agreement of Reflexive Verbs in the Passé Composé

The past participle will agree with the reflexive pronoun when it is the direct object.

ils se sont levés they got up

The past participle is in the masculine plural form because se is the direct object

However, when the direct object is not the pronoun, there is no agreement

ils se sont lavé les mains they washed their hands

Here, les mains is the direct object, and there is no agreement.

However, if the direct object is placed before the verbs as an object pronoun, there is

agreement with the object pronoun, les.

ils se les sont lavées they washed them

If the reciprocal reflexive verb is in the passé composé, and there is an indirect object, there

is no agreement

elles se sont écrit they wrote to each other

If there is a direct object, then there is agreement

elles se sont vues they saw each other

Uses of the Passé Composé

Past Action

The passé composé describes an action that happened in the past and definitely finished.

The action was completed in the past.

There are number of expressions that are typically used with the passé composé

hier yesterday avant-hier the day before yesterday hier soir last night l’autre jour the other day un samedi, dimanche, etc... one Saturday, Sunday, etc... une fois, deux fois... once, twice plusieurs fois several times quelquefois sometimes la semaine dernière last week l’année passée last year

Difference Between Imparfait and Passé Composé

Specific Action or Habitual/ Continuing Action

The imparfait describes actions that are continuing, habitual, or had a long duration.

The passé composé describes past actions that were completed in the past. The main point

of difference is that actions with the passé composé were terminated.

j’ai joué de la guitare hier soir I played the guitar yesterday evening

je jouais de la guitare tous les jeudis I played the guitar every Thursday

With certain expressions

The expressions souvent, parfois and quelquefois are a little bit tricky, because they can be

used with the imparfait or the passé composé, depending on the context

When they describe a series of completed actions, they use the passé composé

il est allé souvent à la plage He went to the beach often [on several occasions]

The imparfait is used when the speaker is describing a habitual occurrence

il allait souvent à la plage he used to go to the beach often [on a regular basis]

Specific Action or Ongoing Action

When an action occurred in the background on another past action, or in other words, it

was taking place and continued to take place when another event occurred, it is expressed

in the imparfait. The new action that interrupted it is expressed in the passé composé.

However, if the both occur simultaneously, then they are both written in the same tense.

quand je suis arrivé, elle dansait when I arrived, she was dancing

il buvait quand le téléphone a sonné he was drinking when the telephone rang

Maryline est partie et François est arrivé Maryline left and François arrived

In most cases, the passé composé will be used to describe something that happened. If the

event was instead in the background, then it is in the imparfait.

Event or Background

When something happens in the background to another event, it is written in the imparfait.

It tends to relate to conditions, a state of mind or something that was going on. The action

in the passé composé is used for the event that happened next or was the main event.

Il faisait beau the weather was nice

Il a mangé très vite parce qu’il avait faim he ate quickly because he was hungry

Verbs with Different Meanings in the Imparfait or Passé Composé

avoir

il avait soif he was thirsty

il a eu soif he became thirsty

connaître

elle connaissait ma cousine she knew my cousin

elle a connu ma cousine she met my cousin

pouvoir

je pouvais sortir I could leave [it was easy for me]

j’ai pu sortir I could leave [and I did]

savoir

je savais la réponse I knew the answer

j’ai su la réponse I found out the answer

vouloir

elle voulait rester deux semaines she wanted to stay for two weeks

elle a voulu rester deux semaines she tried to stay for two weeks

elle ne voulait pas rester deux semaines she didn’t want to stay for two weeks

elle n’a pas voulu rester deux semaines she refused to stay for two weeks

And that’s about it!

Well done if you understood all of this [don’t worry if it takes a while to soak in].

Now, the most important thing is that you practice, practice, and practice! As much as we all

hate grammar drills and repetitive exercises, it is essential that you do as many of them as

you can to really help it sink in and go into your long-term memory. I hope you have found

this guide easy to understand and useful

Oh, and if you find any typos [or think you may have], I advise that you double check them

in another grammar book. I may have made a mistake, so please don’t just take everything

in here to be 100% correct... but I’m pretty sure that it is all correct. Please don’t hesitate to

contact me about any changes that you think I should make!!

ibscrewed4@gmail.com

http://ibscrewed4french.blogspot.com/