Le Passé Composé

How to express actions that took place in the past.

In previous episodes….

This year we’ve worked on DOUBLE VERB CONJUGATIONS like

•I like to swim=J’aime nager.

•He is going to eat dinner with me.=Elle va dîner avec moi.

•We love to dance. =Nous aimons bien danser.

However, now…..• ….we’re going to enter the world of the

PAST!

• In French, there are simple tenses, and compound tenses.

• Simple tenses use the main verb and alter the endings to move around in time. For example: I speak French=je parle français. You are american=tu es américain.

Compound tenses….

• Use an auxiliary (helping) verb) + (plus) a past participle of the main verb.

• There are ONLY two auxiliaries in French: avoir and être.

• For now, we’re only using avoir. The être verbs will come later.

• Once you get the hang of compound verbs in French, you’ve opened the door to ALL compound tenses, and you’re halfway through the verb cycle! Yay!!!

Composé=compound

• The Passé Composé is a 2-part verb tense. COMPOUND! Just like H2O=water,you MUST have both parts of this tense.

• The auxiliary (avoir or être)

• The past participle

Avoir—to have

• j’ai nous avons

• tu as vous avez

• il a ils ont

• elle a elles ont

• on a

For now, we’re only using avoir. The passé composé with être will be taught in a later unit.

Past participles. In English we say

I walkedI have spoken.

The –ed and –en are past tense endings for those verbs. In French

we have to give our verbs past tense endings, too.

Past participles ofREGULAR VERBS

• -ER VERBS. Drop the –er

and add back –é….parlé

• -IR VERBS. Drop the –ir

and add back –i…..fini

• -RE VERBS. Drop the –re

and add back –u…..vendu

Now add the two together to get your compound verb, the passé

composé:PARLER (example of –er verb)

• J’ai parlé Nous avons parlé• Tu as parlé Vous avez parlé• Il a parlé Ils ont parlé

Notice the parlé never changes.

FINIR (example of an –ir verb)

• J’ai fini Nous avons fini

• Tu as fini Vous avez fini

• Il a fini Ils ont fini

Notice the fini never changes.

VENDRE (example of an –re verb

• J’ai vendu Nous avons vendu

• Tu as vendu Vous avez vendu

• Il a vendu Ils ont vendu

Notice the vendu never changes.

Translation into English

• There are 3 ways to translate the passé composé into English:

J’ai parlé

• I spoke

• I have spoken

• I did speak

• NOTE: Don’t try to force English into the translation!

NOTE!

Don’t try to force English into the translation!

Just because j’ai parlé can be translated into I did speak, don’t think you need a different word to represent “did.” Just as je parle=I speak, I am speaking, I do speak……j’ai parlé=I spoke, I have spoken, I did speak.

EXAMPLES

• Il a parlé français avec moi.

(He spoke French with me.)

• Nous avons regardé tous les matchs des Cardinals.

(We have watched all the Cardinals games.)

• Avez-vous écouté mon nouveau CD?

(Did you listen to my new CD?)

TROUBLE-SHOOTINGWhat’s wrong with the following?

• They spoke Spanish in Mexico.Ils parlé espagnol au Mexique.• She finished her homework last night.Elle a ses devoirs hier soir.• You sold your bike in September.Tu as vendus ton vélo en septembre.• They loved the film.Ils a aimé le film.

Corrected:

• Ils ont parlé espagnol au Mexique. (You MUST have both parts of the verb!)

• Elle a fini ses devoirs hier soir. (You MUST have both parts of the verb!)

• Tu as vendu ton vélo en septembre. (The past participle never changes!)

• Ils ont aimé le film. (Incorrect conjugation of avoir.)

C’est votre tour….it’s your turn…

Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the passé composé for the verbs in parentheses.

1. Tu ____________ (jouer) au foot avec Pierre?2. J’____________ (réussir) à l’examen.3. Il __________ (perdre) dix kilos.4. Nous __________ (adorer) la nouvelle

chanson.5. Vous __________ (choisir) les vestes rouges.6. Ils __________ (entendre) la musique en

classe.

Les réponses correctes:

1. Tu as joué au foot avec Pierre?

2. J’ai réussi à l’examen.

3. Il a perdu dix kilos.

4. Nous avons adoré la nouvelle chanson.

5. Vous avez choisi les vestes rouges.

6. Ils ont entendu la musique en classe.

Est-ce que vous avez réussi? Did you succeed?

IRREGULAR VERBS=IRREGULAR PAST PARTICIPLESSo, what if a verb is irregular in the present tense? Then most likely it also has an irregular past participle. For example: faire. If we followed the regular rule, we would drop the –re and add back a –u. Hmm…that would make the past participle of faire=faiu. NON, NON, ET NON! The PP of faire is fait (just like the 3rd person singular). So…j’ai fait une tarte pour le pique-nique= I made a pie for the picnic.

COMMON IRREGULAR PP’S

• Avoir (yes, it also needs a PP)=eu

• Être (yes it also needs a PP)=été

• Vouloir=voulu

• Pouvoir=pu

• Devoir=dû

• Voir=vu

• Mettre=mis

• Prendre=pris

Re-cap

• Passé composé=compound past verb tense• MUST have 2 parts: auxiliary & past participle• Auxiliary is avoir for now• Past participles come from the main verb. • Regular verbs drop their –er, -ir, -re endings and

add back –é, -i, -u respectively.• Irregular verbs have irregular past participles.

You’ll just have to memorize these.• The PC translates like this: j’ai parlé=I spoke, I

have spoken, I did speak.