Le Passé Compose

  • is a past tense

  • is used when referring to completed actions of the past

  • is made up of two parts

    • Auxiliary/Helping Verb + Past Participle


Auxiliary/Helping Verb

  • uses either avoir or être

    • Avoir: J’ai, Tu as, Il/Elle/On a, Nous avons, Vous avez, Ils/Elles ont

    • être: Je suis, Tu es, Il/Elle/On est, Nous sommes, Vous êtes, Ils/Elles sont

  • some verbs use être - memorize DrMrs. Vandertramp to remember the verbs

    • this acronym in in a different note

  • or use être for pronominal verbs (se promener, se brosser, etc)

Past Participle

  • generally for all verbs, we use avoir. However, there are a few exceptions to that rule - some verbs use être as the auxiliary verb

    • these verbs are in the acronym DrMrs.Vandertramp

  • when using être, the past participle (second verb) has to agree with the subject pronoun - subject pronouns are je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, and ils/elles

    • if the subject or person you’re speaking about identifies as female, you have to add an extra ‘e’ (example: Elle est restée)

    • if the subject or person you’re talking about is plural (nous, vous, ils/elles) then you must add an extra ‘s’ (example: Ils sont devenis)

    • if it is both feminine and plural, add an ‘es’ (example: Elles sont restées)


  • to form the past participle for regular verbs, take off the infinitive of the verb (last 2 letters) and add ending

    • “ER” verb endings become é (ex: regarder - regardé)

    • IR” verb endings become i (ex: grandir - grandi)

    • “RE” verb endings become u (ex: vendre - vendu)


IRREGULAR VERBS

  • not all verbs are regular. Below is a list of some irregular verbs in the passé and their endings


THE NEGATIVE IN THE PASSE COMPOSE

  • to create the negative form of a sentence in the passé compose, follow this order:

    • Subject pronoun + n’ +avoir (conjugated) + pas +participe passé

      • example: Je n’ai pas mangé

    • when there are two verbs together (example: J’ai voulu danser), don’t change the order of the negative

      • example: Je n’ai pas voulu danser

REFLEXIVE VERBS

  • when using reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous) must be attached to the conjugated form of ‘ être’

    • subject pronoun + reflexive pronoun + être + participe passé + agreement (if needed)