Passé Composé

Passé COmposé:

Le passé composé is the equivalent of:

 The simple past (j’ai fait, I did)

 The present perfect (j’ai fait, I have done)

You use it to highlight the consequences of past actions and to talk

about:

 Completed actions.
 Repeated actions.
 Series of actions.
 Conditions in likely situations.

How to conjugate verbs in the passé composé tense:

The passé composé is a compound tense, meaning you need two

components to conjugate a verb.
 1. A helping verb (être or avoir) conjugated in the present tense.
(auxiliary verb)
2. The past participle of the verb you want to conjugate (participe
passé)
Rule 1: Choose your helping verb

The first step to conjugating a verb in the passé composé is to

find out what helping verb it uses: être or avoir.

Avoir:

Avoir (to have) is the most common helping verb.

Conjugation:

J’ai I have

Tu as You have (informal)

Il a He has

Elle a She has

Nous avons They have (je-plural)

Vous avez You have (tu – plural

and respect)

Ils ont They have (masculin)

Elles ont They have (feminine)

Être is less common than “avoir” as a helping verb but a few common
French verbs use it when conjugated in the passé composé.

And that corresponds to those words in the dr mrs vandertrampp list.

There are certain exceptional cases too!
Other verbs that use être include:

 All reflexive verbs (verbs that use “se”.)

 Some verbs indicating movement or a change of state.

Être verb conjugation:

Je suis - I am
Tu es - you are
Il est - he is
Elle est - she is
Nous sommes - we are
Vous êtes - you are(plural)
Ils sont - they are
Elles sont - they are

Rule 2 : add the past participle :

The majority of French verbs are regular and forming their past participle
is easy.

Simply use the recipe below:

Regular ER verbs => é

Regular IR verbs => i
Regular RE verbs => u

Manger => J’ai mangé

Finir => J’ai fini
Vendre => J’ai vendu

There are also a few irregular verb patterns:

 Faire, dire and other verbs in ire => it

 Connaitre and other verbs in aitre => u
 Venir and other verbs in enir => enu
 Prendre and other verbs in -endre => pris

Some irregular verbs won’t match any of these patterns, if that’s the case,
you need to look up the individual past participle conjugation.

Avoir

Pronoun Conjugation Translation

J’ ai eu I had

Tu as eu You had

Il/elle/on a eu He/she/it had

Nous avons eu We had

Vous avez eu You had

Ils/elles ont eu They had

Être

Pronoun Conjugation Translation

J’ ai été I was

Tu as été You were

Il/elle/on a été He/she/it was

Nous avons été We were

Vous avez été You were

Ils/elles ont été They were

Pouvoir

Pronoun Conjugation Translation

J’ ai pu I could

Tu as pu You could

Il/elle/on a pu He/she/it could

Nous avons pu We could

Vous avez pu You could

Ils/elles ont pu They could

Examples:
1. With completed actions in the past:

J’ai étudié la leçon déjà.

I studied the lesson already.

2.With a series of events or actions completed in the past:

La semaine passée, je suis allé en Floride, j’ai nagé dans l’océan et j’ai
beaucoup dormi.
Last week I went to Florida, I swam in the ocean, and I slept a lot.

3. With key words associated with past time (hier, avant-hier, hier soir, une
fois, tout à coup…)

Hier soir j’ai dansé avec mon mari.

Last night, I danced with my husband.

Rule 3: Making the verb agree in number and gender (agreement):

Verbs using être as a helping verb to form their passé composé agree
in gender and number with the subject.

 Je suis arrivé(e) - you add a e if the subject if female.

 Ils sont arrivé(s) - (you add a “s” is the subject is plural).
 Elles sont arrivé(es) - ( you add a e plus a s if the subject is plural
and female.)

If the subject is a group of 10 women and 1 man, you are supposed to act
as if the entire group was male because French grammar considers that
male always wins.

So ,

They have arrived - Ils sont arrivés

Passé composé agreement of verbs using avoir as a helping verb

Verbs using avoir in the passé composé only need to agree with
preceding direct objects.

A simple way to know whether a verb has a preceding direct object

(complement d’ objet direct) is to ask what? after the verb.

La tarte qu’elle a mangée était excellente.

The tart she ate was excellent.
Here, the statement is regarding the tart so the conjugation is with respect
to that. This rule is applicable only when the object comes before the verb
being conjugated.

SPECIAL SITUATIONS:

It is important to note that the following verbs from the above list are
conjugated with avoir instead of être when they have a direct
object:  DESCENDRE / ENTRER / MONTER / RENTRER / RETOURNER /
SORTIR.  Pay attention to the differences in meanings between the sample
sentences below.
1. DESCENDRE:
Nous sommes descendues du train pendant que nos maris ont descendu nos
bagages.
We (feminine) got off the train while our husbands took down our luggage.

2. ENTRER:
Il n’est pas encore entré dans le bureau et donc il n’a pas encore entré les
données.
He has not yet entered the office and so he has not yet entered the data.

3. MONTER:
Les enfants sont montés pour se coucher.  Ils ont montés leurs nounours.
The children went up to go to bed.  They brought up their teddy bears.

4. RENTRER:
Je suis rentrée vers dix-sept heures et j’ai rentré le courrier.
I (feminine) came home around 5:00pm and I brought in the mail.

5. RETOURNER:
Quand ils sont retournés des vacances, ils ont retourné les livres à la
bibliothèque.
When they got back from vacation, they returned the books to the library.

6. SORTIR:
Elle est sortie de la maison et elle a sorti les poubelles.
She left the house and she took out the garbage.

 The verb PASSER also forms the Passé Composé with être when it

expresses movement (e.g., someone passed something).  In most other
cases, though, PASSER forms the Passé Composé with avoir (e.g., when
it expresses the passing (or spending) of time, the passing of an exam,
etc.).
 7. PASSER:

Nous sommes passés par notre sortie, et puis nous avons passé une demi-heure

dans un embouteillage.
We passed our exit, and then we spent a half-hour in a traffic jam.

Examples:

Est-ce que le facteur est déjà passé?

Has the mailman already come by?

Oui, il est passé il y a une heure.

Yes, he came by one hour ago.

La famille est montée à leur chambre d’hôtel?

Did the family go up to their hotel room?

Oui, et le chasseur a monté leurs bagages.

Yes, and the bellhop took up their luggage.

Est-ce que vous êtes sorti du musée?

Did you (formal) leave the museum?

Oui, et j’ai sorti mon parapluie parce qu’il pleuvait.

Yes, and I took out my umbrella because it was raining.

NEGATIVE PHRASES:
In a negative sentence in the passé composé, the word ne (or n’) comes before
the auxiliary (“helper”) verb and the remainder of the negative expression (pas,
jamais, pas encore, rien, etc.) comes after the auxiliary (“helper”) verb.  See the
lesson Basic Negation (Saying No!) for more information about negative
expressions.  This format is the same whether the auxiliary (“helper”) verb
is avoir or être.
Example:
Je n’ai pas entendu la question.
I did not hear the question.
Elle n’a rien dit.
She did not say anything.
Nous ne sommes jamais allés à la plage.
We (masculine) never went to the beach.

INTERROGATIVE PHRASES:
Questions in the passé composé can be asked using intonation (i.e., voice
inflection) alone, or it can be formed by beginning the question with Est-ce que
(Est-ce qu’).

INTONATION:
Il a travaillé hier?
Did he work yesterday?
Vous êtes rentrés tard?
Did you (masculine plural) return home late?

WITH EST-CE QUE (or EST-CE QU’):

Est-ce qu’il a travaillé hier?
Did he work yesterday?
Est-ce que vous êtes rentrés tard?
Did you (masculine plural) return home late?
Questions in the passé composé can also be asked by using inversion – that is,
by reversing the order of the subject pronoun and the auxiliary (“helper”) verb. 
Note that inversion is normally not used with je.

INVERSION:
A-t-il travaillé hier?
Did he work yesterday?
Êtes-vous rentrés tard?
Did you (masculine plural) return home late?

NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE PHRASES:

A negative interrogative question in the passé composé can be formed by using
either intonation alone, by beginning the question with Est-ce que (or Est-ce
qu’), or by using inversion.  When using inversion, ne (or n’) comes before the
inverted auxiliary (“helper”) verb, and the remainder of the negative expression
(pas, jamais, pas encore, rien, etc.) comes after the subject pronoun.

INTONATION:
Il n’a pas travaillé hier?
Didn’t he work yesterday?
Vous n’êtes pas rentrés tard?
Didn’t you (masculine plural) return home late?

WITH EST-CE QUE (or EST-CE QU’):

Est-ce qu’il n’a pas travaillé hier?
Didn’t he work yesterday?
Est-ce que vous n’êtes pas rentrés tard?
Didn’t you (masculine plural) return home late?

INVERSION:
N’a-t-il pas travaillé hier?
Didn’t he work yesterday?
N’êtes-vous pas rentrés tard?
Didn’t you (masculine plural) return home late?

Some common examples:

8. As-tu lu le journal aujourd’hui?

Have you read the newspaper today?
9. Non, je n’ai pas encore lu le journal aujourd’hui.
No, I have not yet read the newspaper today.
10.Sont-ils arrivés à l’heure?
Did they (masculine) arrive on time?
11.Non, ils ne sont pas arrivés à l’heure.  Ils sont arrivés en retard.
No, they (masculine) did not arrive on time.  They (masculine) arrived
late.
12.N’a-t-elle pas pris le métro ce matin?
Didn’t she take the subway this morning?
13.Non, elle n’a pas pris le métro.  Elle a pris le bus.
No, she did not take the subway.  She took the bus.
14.Avez-vous parlé avec le professeur hier?
Did you (formal) speak with the professor yesterday?
15.Non, je n’ai pas parlé avec le professeur hier.
No, I did not speak with the professor yesterday.
16.Ils ont fini leurs devoirs?
Did they (masculine or mixed group) finish their homework?
17.Non, ils n’ont pas encore fini leurs devoirs.
No, they (masculine or mixed group) have not yet finished their
homework.
18.As-tu entendu le téléphone sonner?
Did you hear the phone ring?
19.Non, je n’ai pas entendu le téléphone sonner.
No, I did not hear the phone ring.