Le Passé Composé

FormationER – IR and RE Verbs

être/avoirExercises

You use the perfect tense to talk about the past. In French this is called the ‘passé composé’ because it is ‘composed’ of two parts: the auxiliary verb (etre or avoir) and the past participle of the main verb.

Part 1 is the auxiliary verb

Part 2 is the past participle of the main verb

J’ai or je suis + Past participle (é, i, u)

Être- to be Avoir- to have

Je suis J’ai

Tu es Tu as

Il/elle est Il/elle a

On est On a

Nous sommes Nous avons

Vous êtes Vous avez

Ils/elles sont Ils/elles ont

Just a quick look at the conjugation of être and avoir

é

Verbs ending in RE

i

Verbs ending in IR

u

Remove ‘er’ and add ‘é’

Remove ‘re’ and add ‘u’

Remove ‘ir’ and add ‘i’

Ex: jouer joué (played) aller allé (gone)

Ex: vendre vendu (sold) attendre attendu (waited)

Ex: partir parti (gone) choisir choisi (chosen)

The past participle depends on the verb ending

Verbs ending in ER

Most verbs ‘go with’ avoir (just as in English)…

I have reminded my mother about my birthday

J’ai rappellé à ma mère la date de mon anniversaire

J’ai mangé un éclair au chocolat

Tu as écouté la chanson

Elle a vendu sa maison

Nous avons choisi le menu

A number of verbs do not form their past participle following the rules above. These need to be learned separately, the main ones as as follows:

avoir = eu

être = été

faire = fait

boire = bu

conduire = conduit

connaître = connu

courir = couru

croire = cru

devoir = dû

Irregular verbs:

dormir = dormi

écrire = écrit

falloir = fallu

lire = lu

mettre = mis

ouvrir = ouvert

pleuvoir = plu

prendre = pris

Irregular verbs:

comprendre = compris

apprendre = appris

pouvoir = pu

recevoir = reçu

rire = ri

savoir = su

tenir = tenu

vivre = vécu

Irregular verbs:

Insert the right part of ‘avoir’

I have

You have (informal)

She has

We have

You have (formal)

They have (feminine)

CORRECTION

I have

You have (informal)

She has

We have

You have (formal)

They have (feminine)

But some verbs ‘go with’ être.

There are 16 verbs which follow this rule

+ All Reflexive verbs.

Aller and rester are two examples of the verbs which ‘go’ with ‘être’. When you are writing you have to remember to make the past participle ‘agree’ in gender and number with the subject, however when you are speaking you can’t hear the difference:

EcoutezEcoutez

Il est allé- he went

Elle est allée- She went

Ils sont allés- They went (boys)

Elles sont allées- They went (girls)

Monter --> monté (went up)Retourner --> retourné (returned)

Sortir --> sorti (went out)Venir --> venu (came)

Arriver --> arrivé (arrived)Naître --> né (was born)

Descendre --> descendu (went down)Entrer --> entré (entered)Rester --> resté (stayed)Tomber --> tombé (fell)

Rentrer --> rentré (went back in)Aller --> allé (went)

Mourir --> mort (died)Partir --> parti (left)

Mrs Van Der Tramp

Useful websites

http://www.lepointdufle.net/passecompose.htm

http://carmenvera.eoidehellin.es/hotpot/chansons/index.htm

http://www.frenchrevision.co.uk

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