THE "PASSÉ COMPOSÉ" IN FRENCH
🔹 USE: the passé composé is used to talk about something that happened in the past and stayed in the past. It's done and not ongoing in the present.
🔹 CONJUGATION : To conjugate the passé composé, you need an auxiliary. Remember here, that only the auxiliary will be conjugated and the verb will remain the same for the conjugation ending with each pronoun.
🔸 FORMATION OF THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ 🔸
AUXILIARY CONJUGATED AT THE PRESENT TENSE + THE VERB, CONJUGATED AT THE PAST TENSE (PAST PARTICIPLE)
🔹 WHICH AUXILIARY? We are going to use 2 auxiliaries ➡️ "Être (to be)" and "Avoir (to have)". The first one, "Être", is going to be used with verbs of movement; and the second one "Avoir", with the other verbs.
🟢 THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉWITH THE AUXILIARY "AVOIR (TO HAVE)". Below, the verb "Manger (to eat)" conjugated at the passé composé.
As you can see, the auxiliary "avoir" is conjugated at the present tense + "Manger" at the past participle.
🟢 THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ WITH THE AUXILIARY "ÊTRE (TO BE)". Below, the verb "Manger (to eat)" conjugated at the passé composé.
As you can see, the auxiliary "être" is conjugated at the present tense + a verb of movement.
🔸 HOW TO CONJUGATE THE PAST PARTICIPLE? 🔸
As you can see below, some verbs witht their past participles. In other terms, the past participle is simply the verb conjugated at the passé composé, so do not be confused with the term "past participle", it's simply the past form of the verb! :)
Below, you can see they are grouped into different endings: "é / u / i" and other cases ⤵️
🔸 VERB OF MOVEMENT, OR NOT? 🔸
As I mentionned before in this article, we use the auxiliary "être" with the verbs of movement, and "avoir" with most of the verbs at the passé composé. Now, let's see exactly what are the verbs of "movement".
VERBS OF MOVEMENT (AND THEIR PAST PARTICIPLES):
VENIR (infinitive form) = VENU (past participle form) to come
ALLER = ALLÉ to go
ENTRER = ENTRÉ to enter, come in
SORTIR = SORTI to go outside
ARRIVER = ARRIVÉ to arrive
RESTER = RESTÉ to stay
PARTIR = PARTI to leave
MONTER = MONTÉ to go up(stairs)
DESCENDRE = DESCENDU to go down(stairs)
TOMBER = TOMBÉ to fall
NAÎTRE = NÉ to be born
MOURIR = MORT to die
PASSER = PASSÉ to pass by
RETOURNER = RETOURNÉ to return
⚠️ RESTER (to stay) is not a verb of movement, as we stay somewhere without moving, but it’s still conjugated with “Être (to be)”.
⚠️ The verbs indicating a way of doing an action (walking, running, jumping, dancing…) are conjugated with “Avoir (to have)”:
➡️ Marcher = Marché (to walk) / Courir = Couru (to run) / Sauter = Sauté (to jump) / Danser = Dansé (to dance)
🔸 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE AUXILIARY AND THE GENDER OF THE SUBJECT 🔸
When you use the auxiliary “Avoir”, even if you talk about a man or a woman, you do not make the past participle agree with the subject. When you use the auxiliary “Être”, you do it.
Examples:
1️⃣ Elle est restée chez elle = She stayed home
2️⃣ Il est allé au cinéma = He went to the movies
3️⃣ Ils sont allés au restaurant = They went to the restaurant
4️⃣ Elles sont sorties hier soir =They went out last night
🟢🟢 Let’s practice! 🟢🟢
➡️ You have sentences below, using the verbs we saw in this article. Conjugate the verb at the passé composé. PAY ATTENTION to the auxiliary to use! The answers are below. Good luck!
1️⃣ Je (aller) voir ma sœur, hier après-midi. (a woman is talking, here, so feminine form)
2️⃣ Il (descendre) du train très rapidement.
3️⃣ Elles (boire) beaucoup de vin, mardi dernier !
4️⃣ Il y a trois mois, il (courir) un marathon et il (arriver) troisième !
5️⃣ Jean-Paul (arriver) en retard trois fois de suite, cette semaine.
6️⃣ Marie (croire) ce que Vincent lui a dit.
7️⃣ L’année dernière, j’(écrire) une lettre à mon oncle.
8️⃣Il (disparaître) sans explication !
9️⃣ Ils (vivre) en Europe une bonne partie de leur enfance.
🔟 Elle (offrir) des fleurs à sa grand-mère pour son anniversaire.
💡 Answers ⤵️
1️⃣ Je suis allée voir ma sœur, hier après-midi.
2️⃣ Il est descendu du train très rapidement.
3️⃣ Elles ont bu beaucoup de vin, mardi dernier !
4️⃣ Il y a trois mois, il a couru un marathon et il est arrivé troisième !
5️⃣ Jean-Paul est arrivé en retard trois fois de suite, cette semaine.
6️⃣ Marie a cru ce que Vincent lui a dit.
7️⃣ L’année dernière, j’ai écrit une lettre à mon oncle.
8️⃣ Il a disparu sans explication !
9️⃣ Ils ont vécu en Europe une bonne partie de leur enfance.
🔟 Elle a offert des fleurs à sa grand-mère pour son anniversaire.
BUY MY BOOK “THE FRENCH TENSES EXPLAINED (SIMPLY)” IF YOU WISH TO ALWAYS CARRY THESE RULES WITH YOU!
Published in 2023 (112 pages) (Click on the image to be redirected on Amazon)
🌍 FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM FOR DAILY FRENCH VIDEOS AND STORIES
💕 LIKE AND FOLLOW MY FACEBOOK PAGE
🎥 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL