Passe Composse

1. The Recipe for Passé Composé

To form a sentence, you need three ingredients:

Subject + Helping Verb (avoir/ĂȘtre) + Past Participle

Step A: The Helping Verb (Auxiliary)

Most verbs use Avoir. You must conjugate it in the present tense:

  • J'ai (I have)

  • Tu as (You have)

  • Il/Elle a (He/She has)

  • Nous avons (We have)

  • Vous avez (You [plural] have)

  • Ils/Elles ont (They have)

Step B: The Past Participle

This is the "action" word. For regular verbs, just change the ending of the infinitive:

  • -er verbs $\rightarrow$ -Ă© (e.g., parler becomes parlĂ©)

  • -ir verbs $\rightarrow$ -i (e.g., finir becomes fini)

  • -re verbs $\rightarrow$ -u (e.g., vendre becomes vendu)

Example:

  • J'ai mangĂ© (I ate / I have eaten)

  • Nous avons fini (We finished)

2. The "Special" Verbs (Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp)

While most verbs use Avoir, a small group of verbs (mostly about movement or staying put) use Être instead.

Verb

Meaning

Past Participle

Aller

To go

allé

Venir

To come

venu

Entrer

To enter

entré

Sortir

To go out

sorti

Arriver

To arrive

arrivé

Partir

To leave

parti

Note: When using Être, you must add an -e if the subject is feminine and an -s if it is plural.

  • Il est allĂ© (He went)

  • Elle est allĂ©e (She went)

3. Common Irregular Verbs

Some of the most common verbs don't follow the -Ă©, -i, -u rules. You just have to memorize these:

  • Faire (to do/make) $\rightarrow$ fait

  • Prendre (to take) $\rightarrow$ pris

  • Boire (to drink) $\rightarrow$ bu

  • Voir (to see) $\rightarrow$ vu

  • Avoir (to have) $\rightarrow$ eu (pronounced like "oo")

  • Être (to be) $\rightarrow$ Ă©tĂ©