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Passé Composé Notes

The document introduces the French passé composé tense, which is used to talk about completed past actions. [1] It explains that the passé composé is formed using a helping verb (usually "avoir" meaning "to have") combined with the past participle of the main verb. [2] Examples are provided of forming the passé composé for regular verbs like "expliquer" and irregular ones like "réussir", as well as how to make the tense negative or ask questions. [3] Agreement rules for past participles are also covered.

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1K views3 pages

Passé Composé Notes

The document introduces the French passé composé tense, which is used to talk about completed past actions. [1] It explains that the passé composé is formed using a helping verb (usually "avoir" meaning "to have") combined with the past participle of the main verb. [2] Examples are provided of forming the passé composé for regular verbs like "expliquer" and irregular ones like "réussir", as well as how to make the tense negative or ask questions. [3] Agreement rules for past participles are also covered.

Uploaded by

Jane Lea
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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  • Introduction to the Passé Composé
  • Forming the Passé Composé with Avoir
  • Examples of Questions and Negatives

Introduction to the 

Passé Composé

The compound past tense (past indefinite), more commonly known as the passé


composé, refers to an action or event completed in the past. In English, it may be
expressed by using the past participle (the ‐ed form of the verb) or by using the
helping verbs “have” or “did” with the past participle: He has finished studying.

The word “compound” in this tense is important because it tells you that this tense is
made up of more than one part: Two elements are needed to form the passé
composé: a helping verb (often called an auxiliary verb) and a past participle.

Although the overwhelming majority of French verbs use avoir (to have) as their


helping verb, a few verbs use être (to be), and even fewer may use either of these
two helping verbs, depending on the meaning the speaker wishes to impart.

1.The Passé Composé with Avoir


Using avoir as the helping verb is a logical choice in a tense that expresses an action
that has occurred. Although English usage often omits the use of “have” when it is
implied (You may say, “I lost my keys” and not, “I have lost my keys”), in French, you
must always use the helping verb: J'ai perdu mes clefs.

To form the passé composé of verbs using avoir, conjugate avoir in the present


tense (j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont) and add the past participle of
the verb expressing the action. Put the words together this way: subject + helping
verb (usually avoir) + past participle.

The passé composé, a compound past tense, is formed by combining two elements:


when (the action has taken place and, therefore, requires the helping verb avoir) and
what (the action that has happened and, therefore, requires the past participle of the
regular or irregular verb showing the particular action). See Figure 1.
Here are some examples of the passé composé.

 Elle a expliqué son problème. (She explained her problem.)


 Ils ont réussi. (They succeeded.)
 J'ai entendu les nouvelles. (I heard the news.)

Forming the negative in the passé composé with avoir


In a negative sentence in the passé composé, ne precedes the helping verb, and the
negative word (pas, rien, jamais, and so on follows it:

 Je n'ai rien préparé. (I didn't prepare anything.)


 Nous n'avons pas fini le travail. (We didn't finish the work.)
 Il n'a jamais répondu à la lettre. (He never answered the letter.)

Questions in the passé composé with avoir


To form a question in the passé composé using inversion, invert the conjugated
helping verb with the subject pronoun and add a hyphen. Then place the negative
around the hyphenated helping verb and subject pronoun:

 As‐tu mangé? (Did you eat?)


 N'as‐tu rien mangé? (Didn't you eat anything?)
 A‐t‐il attendu les autres? (Did he wait for the others?)
 N'a‐t‐il pas attendu? (Didn't he wait for the others?)

Regular verbs follow a prescribed set of rules for the formation of the past participle,
whereas irregular verbs (discussed in the following section) must be memorized.
Past participles of verbs conjugated with avoir agree in gender (masculine or
feminine — add e) and number (singular or plural — add s) with a preceding direct
object noun or pronoun:
 Le(s) film(s)? (The film[s]?) Je l'(les)ai aimé(s). (I liked it [them].)
 Quelle(s) robe(s) a‐t‐elle choisie(s)? (Which dress[es] did she choose?)
 Il nous a vus. (He saw us.)

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