Le passé composéThe composite past tense in

FrenchPa

r Rao

ul D

ufy.

Up until now we have learned to conjugate –ER, –IR, and –RE verbs in the present tense. We have not touched upon –OIR verbs, since the occurrence of these is fairly rare.

MARCHER

Je march-eTu march-esIl march-eElle march-e

Nous march-onsVous march-ezIls march-entElles march-ent

FINIR

Je fin-isTu fin-isIl fin-itElle fin-it

Nous fin-issonsVous fin-issezIls fin-issentElles fin-issent

VENDRE

Je vend-sTu vend-sIl vend-Elle vend-

Nous vend-onsVous vend-ezIls vend-entElles vend-ent

Of course, the actual conjugation is written without the hyphen. The hyphens are included here to illustrate the formation of the verb.

Now that you have a grasp of how verbs are conjugated in French, we are ready to move on to the concept of tense.

As in most languages (but certainly not all), time is understood in terms of past, present, and future. Generally speaking it is the verb which conveys this concept of time (tense).

In both English and French, past tense may be conveyed by using a verb in the past tense (ate), or by using a composite tense (helping verb plus the past participle: have eaten).

It is this latter form of the past tense—the passé composé—which will interest us now.

In order to use the passé composé, it is necessary to understand how to form the past participle. This is very easy. Simply take the root of a regular verb, then add a letter as follows:

Type Verb Root AddPast

Participle

-ER marcher march- -é marché

-IR finir fin- -i fini

-RE vendre vend- -u vendu

Now that you are able to form the past participle, you are ready to start using the passé composé, which is generally formed by adding the past participle to the conjugation of AVOIR:

AVOIR PAST PARTICIPLE CONJUGATION

j’ai + mangé j’ai mangé

tu as + mangé tu as mangé

il a + mangé il a mangé

elle a + mangé elle a mangé

nous avons + mangé nous avons mangé

vous avez + mangé vous avez mangé

ils ont + mangé ils ont mangé

elles ont + mangé elles ont mangé

Passé composé Translation in English

j’ai mangé I ate; I have eaten

tu as mangé thou didst eat; thou hast eaten

il a mangé he ate; he has eaten

elle a mangé she ate; she has eaten

nous avons mangé we ate; we have eaten

vous avez mangé you ate; you have eaten

ils ont mangé they ate; they have eaten

elles ont mangé they ate; they have eaten

The passé composé is used to reference the immediate past, or that which has occurred within living memory. There is a tense for the historic past, called the passé simple, but that is a discussion for another time.

chercherécoutertuercracherobservertravaillerreveiller

cherchéécoutétuécrachéobservétravailléreveillé

Write out the past participle for each of the following –ER verbs (whether you know its meaning or not).

Now form the past participle for the verbs which follow:

finirpunirsortirréussirobéirfrémirdormir

finipunisortiréussiobéifrémidormi

vendrependrerendredescendretendreentendrerompre

vendupendurendudescendutenduentendurompu

Irregular Past ParticiplesAll languages, of course, have their irregularities, and some verbs form their past participle in unusual ways. You will simply have to learn the past participles for the following verbs:

Irregular Past Participlesavoir euêtre étéfaire fait

As if the passé composé isn’t already complicated enough, there are a number of verbs which are conjugated only with être. These have to be memorized.

EntrerSortir MonterDescendre

Venir

Tomber

Retourner

Arriver

Naître

Michel Duval1970 – 2020

Mourir

Revenir

Rester

Partir

Aller

La maison d’être

There are various tricks for remembering which verbs are conjugated with être. All reflexive verbs are conjugated with être.

My favorite mnemonic device was Mrs. Van der Tramp. When I came to America, I was introduced to her physician, Dr. V.E. Mantraps.

Remember, simply, that all of the verbs from the House of Être are included, as are any verbs containing the same root. In order to conjugate the verbs that go with être, you will need to know their past participles.

La maison d’êtreM monter monté(e)R rentrer rentré(e)S sortir sorti(e)V venir venu(e)A aller allé(e)N naître né(e)D descendre descendu(e)E entrer entré(e)R retourner retourné(e)T tomber tombé(e)R revenir revenu(e)A arriver arrivé(e)M mourir mort(e)P partir parti(e)

Elle est montée l’escalier.Il est rentré envers six heures.Il est sorti. Elle est sortie aussi.Elle est venue au boum chez nous.Je suis allée au supermarché.Il est né le 6 juin, 1986.Elle est descendue à neuf heures.Elle est entrée dans la salle.Je suis retourné chez moi à six heures.Elle est tombée par terre.Elle est revenue à minuit.Il est arrivé hier à midi.Elle est morte il y a deux jours.Il est partie avec ma petite amie.

You now have a basic understanding of how to use the passé composé. You are able to communicate in both present and past tenses, and to use the simple future tense using aller.

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