Pass compos

Diagram showing which verbs (apart from les verbes pronominaux) are
conjugated with tre; below each verb in infinitive form is the past participle.

Pass compos (French pronunciation: [pase kpoze], compound past) is the

most commonly used past tense in the modern French language. It is used to
express an action that has been finished completely or incompletely at the time
of speech, or at some (possibly unknown) time in the past. Pass compos
originally corresponded in function to the English present perfect, and is still
used as such or as past simple.

Pass compos is formed using an auxiliary verb and the past participle of a
verb.

Contents

1 Conjugation

o 1.1 Auxiliary "avoir"

o 1.2 Auxiliary "tre"

o 1.3 Reflexive forms

2 Formation of French past participles

3 Agreement between participle and object

4 See also

5 References

Conjugation

The pass compos is formed by the auxiliary verb, usually the avoir auxiliary,
followed by the past participle. The construction is parallel to that of the present
perfect (there is no difference in French between perfect and non-perfect forms).
When the pass compos is formed by the auxiliary verb tre, the form (and
meaning) is that of a passive form.
The pass compos is usually translated into English as a simple past tense, "I
saw", or as a present perfect, "I have seen". It could also be translated as
emphatic past tense, "I did see".

J'ai vu quelque chose (I have seen something / I saw something)

Tu as parl de quelque chose (You spoke of something/ you have spoken

of something)

Le garon est sorti (The boy has gone out / the boy went out / the boy is
out / the boy is indeed out.)

The auxiliary may actually be used similarly in any tense, leading to the French
"compound tenses".

Auxiliary "avoir"

The auxiliary verb is typically avoir ("to have"), but is sometimes tre ("to be")
(see below).

This is the conjugation of avoir, with a past participle:

j'ai vu (I have seen) nous avons

vu (we have seen)
tu as vu (you have seen) vous avez vu
(you have seen)
il/elle/on a vu (he/she/it has seen) ils/elles ont
vu (they have seen)

Auxiliary "tre"

The verbs that use tre as an auxiliary verb are intransitive verbs that usually
indicate motion or change of state.

Since some of these verbs can be used as a transitive verb as well, they will
instead take avoir as an auxiliary in those instances; e.g.

Il est sorti (he has gone out / he is out / he went out)

Il a sorti un outil pour le rparer (he has taken out a tool to repair it)

This is the conjugation of tre, with a past participle:

je suis mort(e) (I am dead) nous
sommes mort(e)s (we are dead)
tu es mort(e) (you are dead) vous
tes mort(e)s (you are dead)
il/elle/on est mort(e) (he/she/it is dead)
ils/elles sont mort(e)s (they are dead)

The following is a list of verbs that use tre (for intransitive usage) as their
auxiliary verbs in pass compos:

Devenir to become (tre) devenu(e)(s)

Revenir to come back (tre) revenu(e)(s)

Monter to go up (tre) mont(e)(s)

Rester to stay (tre) rest(e)(s)

Sortir to exit (tre) sorti(e)(s)

Venir to come (tre) venu(e)(s)

Aller to go (tre) all(e)(s)

Natre to be born (tre) n(e)(s)

Descendre to descend (tre) descendu(e)(s)

Entrer to enter (tre) entr(e)(s)

Retourner to return (tre) retourn(e)(s)

Tomber to fall (tre) tomb(e)(s)

Rentrer to re-enter (tre) rentr(e)(s)

Arriver to arrive (tre) arriv(e)(s)

Mourir to die (tre) mort(e)(s)

Partir to leave (tre) parti(e)(s)

The above are commonly remembered using the acronym DR and MRS
VANDERTRAMP. In addition to these, at least one other verb is conjugated
with tre:

Dcder to decease (tre) dcd(e)(s)

Passer to pass (tre) pass(e)(s) (although it is only conjugated with

tre when describing movement)

Reflexive forms

In addition to the above verbs, all reflexive/pronominal verbs use tre as their
auxiliary verb. A reflexive verb is a verb that relates back to the speaker, either
as an object e.g. Je me suis tromp (= *j'ai tromp moi-mme, I mistook
myself), or as a dative form e.g. Je me suis donn du temps (= * j'ai donn du
temps moi-mme, I gave some time to myself).

Formation of French past participles

To form the past participle for first-group verbs (-ER verbs) and aller too, drop
the -er and add -.

parler (to speak) - er + = parl (spoken)

arriver (to arrive) - er + = arriv (arrived)
manger (to eat) - er + = mang (eaten)

To form the past participle for second-group verbs (-IR verbs with -ISSANT
gerund), drop the -ir and add -i.

finir (to finish) - ir + i = fini (finished)

choisir (to choose) - ir + i = choisi (chosen)
grandir (to grow up) - ir + i = grandi (grown up)

To form the past participle for third-group verbs (-RE verbs), drop the -re and
add -u.

pendre (to hang) - re + u = pendu (hung or

sometimes hanged)
vendre (to sell) - re + u = vendu (sold)
entendre (to hear) - re + u = entendu (heard)

The irregular past participles (which are often found with the third group
verbs) must be memorized separately, of which the following are a few:
acqurir: acquis (acquired)
apprendre: appris (learnt/learned)
atteindre: atteint (attained)
attendre: attendu (waited)
avoir: eu (had)
boire: bu (drunk/drunken)
comprendre: compris (understood)
conduire: conduit (driven)
connatre: connu (known)
construire: construit (constructed)
courir: couru (run)
couvrir: couvert (covered)
craindre: craint (feared)
croire: cru (believed)
dcevoir: du (disappointed)
dcouvrir: dcouvert (discovered)
devoir: d (had to)
dire: dit (said)
crire: crit (written)
tre: t (been)
faire: fait (done)
instruire: instruit (prepared)
joindre: joint (joined)
lire: lu (read)
mettre: mis (put, placed)
offrir: offert (offered)
ouvrir: ouvert (opened)
paratre: paru (come out)
peindre: peint (painted)
pouvoir: pu (been able to)
prendre: pris (taken)
produire: produit (produced)
recevoir: reu (received)
savoir: su (known)
souffrir: souffert (hurt)
surprendre: surpris (surprised)
suivre: suivi (followed)
tenir: tenu (held, holden)
venir: venu (come)
vivre: vcu (lived)
voir: vu (seen)
vouloir: voulu (wanted)

Agreement between participle and object

The use of the past participle in compound tenses in French is complicated by
occasional "agreement" with the object of the action. In French, agreement is
accomplished by adding an -e to the end of the past participle if the grammatical
gender of the subject or direct object in question is feminine and an -s if it is
plural. (Note that for verbs of the first and second group, the past participle ends
with a vowel, thus the masculine and feminine, singular and plural forms are all
pronounced the same. Within the third-group verbs, one can find past participles
ending with a mute consonant, such as mis and fait, and those do change
pronunciation.)

The past participle almost always agrees with the subject when the
auxiliary verb is tre (beware, though, that pronominal verbs may
produce tricky cases), or when the past participle is used as an adjective
(which is essentially the same case).

When the auxiliary verb is avoir, the past participle must agree with the
direct object if the direct object precedes the past participle in the
sentence.

Examples :

Les hommes sont arrivs. (The men have arrived / the men arrived / the
men are arrived / the men are indeed arrived.)

NB: agreement, s is needed in that case, because of the tre auxiliary - the
meaning (and construction) is that of a predicative expression in that case.

Les filles sont venues. (The girls came / the girls have come / the girls
have arrived / the girls have indeed arrived.)

NB: agreement of venues, see above.

Nous sommes lev(e)s. (We got up / we have risen / we did rise)

NB : an extra e would be required if nous refers to a group of females -

see above.

J'ai vu la voiture. (I saw the car / I have seen the car / I did see the car)

Je l'ai vue. (I saw it / I have seen it)

 NB - agreement needed in that case, referring to the car (the object
materialized by " l' " is mentioned before the participle - see Accord du
participe pass en franais for details).

Les voitures que j'ai vues taient rouges. (The cars [that I saw / that I've
seen] were red)

que relative to Les voitures, implies that the participle is feminine plural
in that case (les voitures sont vues).

O sont mes lunettes ? O est-ce que je les ai mises ? (Where are my

glasses? Where did I put them?)

Voil l'erreur que j'ai faite. (There's the mistake [I made/I have made])

que relative to l'erreur, feminine singular)

Past Perfect

Plus-que-parfait

The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense that distinguishes
between two related things that happened in the past, indicating which one
occurred before the other. The use of the past perfect is very similar in French
and English.

The past perfect is used for the verb that happened first, the one that is further in
the past. The action that occurred second is usually stated with another past
tense, such as the pass compos or imperfect.

Par exemple

Javais fini tout le travail quand je suis I had finished all the work when I
parti. left.
Tu nas pas rpondu la porte hier You didnt answer the door last
soir. night.
Je mtais couch trs tt. Id gone to sleep very early.

The second action may be stated with avant de + infinitive or avant que +
subjunctive, or the verb can even be implied with avant + noun, as long as that
noun refers to something in the past.
Par exemple

Javais fini tout le travail avant de I had finished all the work before
partir. leaving.
Il mavait tlphon avant la fte.
Hed called me before the party.
(avant que nous soyons alls la
(before we went to the party)
fte)

Its important to understand that the past perfect is used when there is a
relationship between the two verbs: the one in the past perfect led to or had
some bearing on the one that came second. If youre just making a list of two
things that occurred, either one after the other or at the same time, you dont
need the past perfect.

Par exemple

Jai fini tout le travail et puis je suis

I finished all the work, then I left.
parti.
Jai fait la lessive et Ana a tondu le I did the laundry and Ana mowed the
gazon. lawn.

The past perfect is used without a subsequent action in hypothetical si clauses

when something could or would have happened if a condition, stated with the
past perfect, had been met.

Par exemple

Si javais fini le travail, je serais If I had finished the work, I would

parti tt. have left early.
Tu aurais russi lexamen si tu You would have passed the test if you
avais tudi. had studied.

Mode subjonctif
Dfinition
Le subjonctif est un mode personnel qui exprime
l'ventualit, le souhait.
 Il comporte quatre temps verbaux : le prsent, le pass,
l'imparfait et le plus-que-parfait.

Emplois
Le subjonctif se rencontre principalement aprs un verbe de
volont ou de sentiment (vouloir, souhaiter, dsirer, craindre),
dans une proposition subordonne compltive introduite
par que. Ex. :

Il faut qu'une porte soit ouverte ou ferme

Alfred DE MUSSET

On le trouve galement dans des propositions

subordonnes circonstancielles introduites par pour que,
afin que, avant que, bien que, quoique, sans que, etc. Ex. :
Quoique tu dises, tu ne parviendras pas me convaincre.

Enfin, on utilise parfois le subjonctif dans des propositions

indpendantes ou principales pour exprimer le souhait,
l'ordre, l'indignation, l'hypothse.

Remarque
Le plus-que-parfait et l'imparfait du subjonctif n'ont plus
aujourd'hui qu'un emploi littraire. Mais le prsent et le
pass du subjonctif sont beaucoup utiliss, tant l'crit qu'
l'oral

PASSE ANRERIEUR
he French past anterior is the literary equivalent of the past perfect. It is used in
literature and historical accounts to indicate an action in the past that occurred
before another action in the past. Because it is a literary tense, you don't need to
practice conjugating it, but it is important for you to be able to recognize it.

The French past anterior is usually introduced by one of these conjunctions:

aprs que, aussitt que, ds que, lorsque, or quand.
 Quand nous emes fini, nous mangemes.
When we had finished, we ate.

Ds qu'elle fut arrive, le tlphone sonna.

As soon as she arrived, the phone rang.

Je partis aprs que vous ftes tomb.

I left after you fell.

(Note that the verb tense in the other clause is the pass simple.)

Since the past anterior is a literary tense, it is usually replaced by another

tense/mood in everyday speech - either the pluperfect (for habitual actions), the
past infinitive, or the perfect participle.