PASSÉ
COMPOSÉ
ONE OF THE PAST TENSES IN FRENCH
WHAT IS THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ?
• The Passé Composé has two equivalents in English, the simple past tense
and the perfect tense.
• The Simple Past Tense is used to talk about a completed action in the past.
This is the most basic form of the past tense in English.
E.g. I saw
• The Perfect Tense in English is also used to refer to a completed action in
the past. It is formed using the verb “have” followed by the past participle.
E.g. I have seen
• One time facts
e.g. He was born in 1990
WHEN IS THE • A succession of events that were completed
in the past, in a list.
PASSÉ
COMPOSÉ e.g. They went to the mall, then they
went to the store, then they returned home.
USED IN
• Actions repeated in the past within set
FRENCH?
parameters (a number of times, or within a
certain time frame)
e.g. I saw the movie four times.
HOW DO WE FORM THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ?
• The Passé Composé is made up of two parts, like the perfect tense. The
auxiliary and the past participle.
• The Auxiliary is either AVOIR or ÊTRE in the present tense
• There are rules to forming the past participle which we will go through
shortly.
AUXILIARY VERBS
AVOIR ÊTRE
j’ai nous avons je suis nous sommes
tu as vous avez tu es vous êtes
il/elle/on a ils/elles ont il/elle/on est ils/elles sont
PAST PARTICIPLES
• Generally for “ER” • Generally, when • Generally for “RE”
verbs, we remove verbs end in “IR” verbs, we remove the
the “ER” and we remove the “R” “RE” and replace it
replace it with “é” alone. with “u”
e.g. FINIR - fini
e.g. PASSER - passé e.g. RENDRE - rendu
In order for the passé composé to be complete, you must have both parts.
BOTH THE CONJUGATED FORM OF THE APPROPRIATE AUXILIARY AND THE PAST
PARTICIPLE.
SOME COMMON IRREGULAR PAST
Infinitive English Past
Participle
PARTICIPLES
Infinitive English Past
Participle
avoir to have eu prendre to take/have pris
lire to read lu voir to see vu
boire to drink bu apprendre to learn appris
comprendre to understand compris mettre to put mis
vouloir to want voulu devoir to be obligated dû
to
dire to say dit écrire to write écrit
conduire to drive conduit pouvoir to be able to pu
savoir to know su croire to believe cru
(facts)
connaître to know connu faire to do/make fait
(people)
disparaître to disappear disparu ouvrir to open ouvert
plaire to please plu découvrir to discover découvert
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH AUXILIARY VERB
TO USE? AVOIR OR ÊTRE?
• Most verbs are accompanied by the auxiliary verb AVOIR.
• The best way to remember the verbs that are accompanied by the
auxiliary verb ÊTRE is the acronym DR and MRS VANDERTRAMP in which
each letter stands for the infinitive of a verb.
• Another way is to remember that they generally refer to verbs of motion.
• A final way is that they are often in pairs because one verb is often the
opposite of the other. E.g to arrive + to leave
• ÊTRE is also used with reflexive verbs
DR. MRS. VANDERTRAMP
Letter Infinitive English Past Participles
D devenir to become devenu devenue devenus devenues
R revenir to return revenu revenue revenus revenues
M monter to climb / go monté montée montés montées
up
R rentrer to return rentré rentrée rentrés rentrées
S sortir to go out sorti sortie sortis sorties
V venir to come venu venue venus venues
A aller to go allé allée allés allées
N naître to be born né née nés nées
D descendre to go down descend descendu descend descendu
u e us es
E entrer to enter entré entrée entrés entrées
R retourner to return retourné retournée retourn retournée
és s
T tomber to fall tombé tombée tombés tombées
R rester to stay resté restée restés restées
A arriver to arrive arrivé arrivée arrivés arrivées
IMPORTANT
• Whenever the auxiliary verb ÊTRE is used, the past participle behaves
like an adjective.
• When I say behaves like an adjective, I mean it agrees in gender, so we
add an “e” to the part participle.
• It also agrees in number, so we add an “s” to the past participle for
masculine plural and “es” to the past participle for the feminine plural