Le Passé Composé

This tense is used to describe something that you did. Like, I opened my web browser. Unlike the present tense it’s in 2 parts (linguists call it a compound tense).

You have to remember to ALWAYS WRITE 2 BITS!!!

I am going to show you the passé composé in 4 separate stages.

Stage 1 – Regular Verbs

So, let’s break the passé composé up into its 2 parts.

Part 1 – Avoir Bit or the “helper verb” according to the linguists

You’ve already learned that “I” in French is “Je”, “you” is “tu” etc.

For the passé compose Je, tu,il etc change to avoir

So Je = j’ai Tu = Tu as Il = Il a Elle = Elle a Nous = nous avons

Vous = vous avez Ils = Ils ont Elles = Elles ont

Présent	Passé Composé
Je	J’ai
Tu	Tu as
Il	Il a
Elle	Elle a
Nous	Nous avons
Vous	Vous avez
Ils	Ils ont
Elles	Elles ont

Please Note:

There are a couple of pitfalls to look out for. If I am talking/writing about Mon école, ma soeur or Mes amis I still need an “avoir” bit.

So mon école = mon école a ma souer = ma souer a mes amis = mes amis ont

Part 2 – “ed Bit – The Linguists calls this the “past participle”

What I mean by “ed” is the ed we use in English.

Work = worked Finish = finished Watch = watched

The “ed” bit for the regular passé composé is dead easy.

ER verbs	Take off ER add é
IR verbs	Take off IR add i
RE verbs	Take off RE add u

So, Manger = to eat Ate = Mangé Finir = To finish Finished = Fini

Attendre = wait for Waited for = Attendu

Now let’s put the 2 together.

I ate = J’ai mangé We finished = Nous avons fini

My friends waited = Mes amis ont attendu

Time to go online and do some quizzes for practice.

http://www.quia.com/rr/36766.html

http://www.quia.com/cb/591304.html

Stage 2 – Irregular Avoir Verbs

In this stage, the ER = é, IR = I and RE = u become obsolete.

The “ed” bit is completely irregular. Here’s a list of the most common irregular “past participles”. Write them down or just keep returning to cliff when you need to check if a verb is irregular.

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/french/french-i/french-i-the-passe-compose/past-participles-of-irregular-verbs

After you’ve familiarised yourself with the above list you just combine it with the “avoir” half

So I was = J’ai été They did = Ils ont fait My brother saw = Mon frère a vu

Exercise time:

http://www.francaisextra.com/gateway/half/perfect_avoir_ireg.html

http://www.francaisextra.com/gateway/half/perfect_avoir_iirregshort.html

http://conjuguemos.com/activity.php?language=french&id=14&source=public&type=verbs

Stage 3 – Etre verbs

This time the 1^st part of the passé composé (helper verb) changes from avoir to ETRE.