Class Notes: French Past Tense (Passé Composé)

Objective

Learn how to form and use the passé composé (past tense) in French, including regular and irregular verb patterns, and which auxiliary verb (avoir or être) to use.

1. What is the Passé Composé?

• The passé composé is used to talk about actions/events that have happened in the past.
• Formed using an auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) + past participle of the main verb.

2. Forming the Passé Composé

Auxiliary Verbs:

• Most verbs use "avoir" as the auxiliary.
• Some verbs use "être." (See section 4 for a list.)

Structure:

Subject + conjugated auxiliary (avoir/être) + past participle

Examples:

• Nous avons mangé (We ate/have eaten)

  • "Nous" conjugated with "avoir" → "avons"
  • "Manger" past participle → "mangé"

• Je suis arrivé(e) (I arrived)

  • "Je" conjugated with "être" → "suis"
  • "Arriver" past participle → "arrivé"

3. Forming Past Participles

Regular Verbs

• -ER verbs: Replace "-er" with "é"
  • parler → parlé
  • manger → mangé
• -IR verbs: Replace "-ir" with "i"
  • finir → fini
• -RE verbs: Replace "-re" with "u"
  • vendre → vendu

Common Irregular Past Participles

• avoir → eu
• être → été
• dire (to say) → dit
• venir (to come) → venu
• ouvrir (to open) → ouvert
• connaître (to know) → connu
• boire (to drink) → bu
• prendre (to take) → pris
• naître (to be born) → né

4. Verbs That Use "Être" Instead of "Avoir"

Typically verbs of movement or state change:

• arriver (to arrive) → arrivé
• partir (to leave) → parti
• naître (to be born) → né
• mourir (to die) → mort
• descendre (to go down) → descendu
• monter (to go up) → monté
• aller (to go) → allé
• venir (to come) → venu
• rentrer (to come home) → rentré
• tomber (to fall) → tombé
• retourner (to return) → retourné
• entrer (to enter) → entré
• sortir (to exit/go out) → sorti
• apparaître (to appear) → apparu
• rester (to stay) → resté
• revenir (to come back) → revenu

Hint: These are sometimes remembered using the mnemonic "Dr & Mrs Vandertramp."

5. Agreement with "Être" Verbs

• Past participles with "être" must agree in gender and number with the subject.
  • Example: Elle est allée (She went), Ils sont allés (They went — masculine plural)

6. Other Patterns/Exceptions

• Verbs ending in "-IRE": often become "-it" (e.g., dire → dit)
• Verbs ending in "-OIRE": often become "-u" (e.g., boire → bu)
• Verbs ending in "-AITRE": often become "-u" (e.g., connaître → connu)
• Some verbs have unique or irregular past participle forms — memorize these as you go!

7. Practice and Internalization

• Practice these forms regularly in conversation.
• Focus first on identifying whether to use "avoir" or "être."
• Master the regular patterns before moving on to irregularities.
• In more advanced study, past participle agreement rules will be important (gender/number).

8. Next Steps

• Practice forming passé composé sentences with different verbs.
• Identify which auxiliary verb each verb requires.
• Gradually learn irregular past participles and exceptions.
• Study agreement with gender and number for "être" verbs.

Resources

• Join the Language Tutor French Facebook community for practice and support.
• Watch future lessons for more exceptions and details.

Peace and blessings to you and your family — keep practicing!