The passé composé is the most common way to talk in the past tense in French.
When to use the passé composé
Être and Avoir
| 14 être verbs | |
|---|---|
| aller (to go) | partir (to leave) |
| arriver (to arrive) | passer (to pass) |
| descendre (to descend/ to go downstairs) | rester (to stay) |
| entrer (to enter) | retourner (to return) |
| monter (to climb) | sortir (to go out) |
| mourir (to die) | tomber (to fall) |
| naître (to be born) | venir (to come) |
To create the passé compose you need to conjugate the verbs être or avoir. Être (to be) Avoir (to have) Most verbs are conjugated with avoir, however, there are 14 common verbs that are conjugated with être.
You may have noticed that many of the 14 être verbs have to do with movement. Except naître (to be born) mourir (to die) and rester (to stay) these verbs are motion verbs. That doesn't mean however that all motion verbs use être in the passé composé. For instance, courir (to run) is conjugated with avoir.
The reason these verbs are être verbs is because they are intransitive, that is they don't have a direct object.
Examples of Intransitive Verbs (Etre verbs):
- He stayed two hours after the party.
- The leaf fell from the tree.
- The children went to school in the morning.
Examples of Transitive Verbs (Avoir verbs):
(The verb is in bold and its object is in italics)
- She picked up her purse.
- The boy kicked the soccer ball.
- Mother is making dinner tonight.
| Conjugation of être (to be) | Conjugation of avoir (to have) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Je suis | Nous sommes | J'ai | Nous avons |
| Tu es | Vous êtes | Tu as | Vous avez |
| Il/Elle/On est | Ils/Elles sont | Il/Elle/On a | Ils/Elles ont |
How to make the passé composé
| Subject + | Conjugation of être/avoir + | past participle of the verb (to have) | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tu | as | lu | You have read |
| Nous | avons | mangé | We ate/We have eaten |
| Il | est | allé | He went |
As you can see from the above table to form the passé composé you need to:
- Conjugate avoir or être
- change the verb to the past participle
In the next sections you will be able to see examples of the passé composé with avoir and être, learn how to form the past participle in regular verbs, and learn the past participle in the most common irregular verbs.
Avoir passé composé examples
- Ils ont mangé. They have eaten.
- J'ai dancé. I danced.
- Il a vu un chat. He saw a cat.
- Elle a vendu sa voiture. She sold her car.
Être passé composé examples
- Je suis allé à la bibliothèque. I went to the library.
- Ils sont venus après l'école. They came home after school.
- La feuille est tombé de l'arbre. The leaf fell from the tree.
- Il est resté à l'école à jouer au basket. He stayed after school to play basketball.
Forming the Past Participle
Regular ER Verbs
To form a past participle of –er verbs, drop the –er of the infinitives and add an é
| Verb | Drop ER | Add É | Past Participle | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| manger | mang - er | mang + é | mangé | to eat |
| dancer | danc - er | danc + é | dancé | to dance |
| payer | pay - er | pay + é | payé | to pay |
Regular IR Verbs
To form a past participle of –ir verbs, drop the –ir of the infinitives and add an i
| Verb | Drop IR | Add I | Past Participle | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| finir | fin - ir | fin + i | fini | to finish |
| réussir | réuss - ir | réuss + i | réussi | to succeed |
| dormir | dorm - ir | dorm + i | dormi | to sleep |
Regular RE Verbs
To form a past participle of –re verbs, drop the –re of the infinitives and add an u
| Verb | Drop RE | Add U | Past Participle | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| perdre | perd - re | perd + u | perdu | to lose |
| vendre | vend - re | vend + u | vendu | to sell |
| répondre | répond - re | répond + u | répondu | to answer |
Irregular Verbs
This is a list of some of the most common irregualr verbs and their past participles.
| Verb | Past Participle | Verb | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| avoir | eu (had) | boire | bu (drank) |
| conduire | conduit (driven, drove) | connaître | connu (known, knew) |
| courir | couru (ran) | croire | cru (believed) |
| devoir | dû (had to, owed) | dire | dit (said, told) |
| écrire | écrit (written, wrote) | être | été (been, was) |
| faire | fait (made, done, did) | falloir | fallu (had to, should, was necessary) |
| lire | lu (read) | mettre | mis (put) |
| mourir | mort (died) | naître | né (born) |
| ouvrir | ouvert (opened) | pleuvoir | plu (rained) |
| pouvoir | pu (was able to) | prendre | pris (took) |
| recevoir | reçu (received) | savoir | su (knew) |
| venir | venu (came) | vivre | vécu (lived) |
| voir | vu (saw) | vouloir | voulu (wanted) |