Le Passé Composéthe VANDERTRAMP verbs

REMINDER: The PC is used to express actions that took place in

the past.

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 (in this case, être)

• The past participle

Now, what’s different about the VANDERTRAMP series?

• 2 things:– These verbs conjugate w/être instead of avoir– The past participles of these verbs must

AGREE w/the subject in number and gender

(add an e to make it feminine; add an s to make it plural; add an es to make it feminine plural)

ETRE—TO BE

• Je suis nous sommes

• tu es vous êtes

• il est ils sont

• elle est elles sont

• on est

DRMRSPVANDERTRAMPThis is the acronym we use to remember these 17 verbs.Descendre—to descendRester—to stayMonter—to board, mount, climbRetourner—to return, to turn aroundSortir—to go out, exitPasser—to pass byVenir—to comeAller—to goNaître—to be born

Devenir—to becomeEntrer—to enterRentrer—to return/re-enterTomber—to fallRevenir—to come back, to returnArriver—to arriveMourir—to diePartir—to leave, depart

(Remember also the story of the house as a memory tool for these verbs.)

Reminder: 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 OF VANDERTRAMP VERBS

• ALL VANDERTRAMP verbs form their past participles in the normal, regular way, except

• Venir/devenir/revenir. These drop the –ir and add back a –u: venu, devenu, revenu

• Mourir=mort (think mortal, mortician)

• Naître-né

Review of regular formations of past participles of

REGULAR 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:BASIC ALLER

• Je suis allé Nous sommes allés• Tu es allé Vous êtes allé• Il est allé Ils sont allés

Just as w/other PC verbs, see the translation into English:

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

je suis allé

• I went

• I have gone

• I did go

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

NOTE!

Don’t try to force English into the translation!

Just because je suis allé looks like I am gone, it does NOT mean that!

AGREEMENT issues w/the VANDERTRAMP series

• See the FULL conjugation of ALLER:• Je suis allé (male subject)• Je suis allée (female subject)• Tu es allé (male “you”)• Tu es allée (female “you”)• Il est allé• Elle est allée• NOTE: The accent aigu does NOT move

from its original e. Just add another e when necessary.

nous sommes allés (all male or mixed “we”)nous sommes allées (all female “we”)vous êtes allé (singular male “you”)vous êtes allée (singular female “you”)vous êtes allés (plural “you” all male or mixed)vous êtes allées (plural “you” all female)ils sont allés (all male, mixed “they”)elles sont allées (all female “they”)

TROUBLE-SHOOTINGWhat’s wrong with the following?

• They came to my house.Ils sont venu chez moi.

• She was born in September.Elle est naîtu en septembre.

• We boarded the train at 9:20.Nous avons montés le train à 9h20.

Corrected:

• They came to my house.Ils sont venus chez moi.

• She was born in September.Elle est née en septembre.

• We boarded the train at 9:20.Nous sommes montés le train à 9h20.

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 ____________ (sortir) avec Pierre?

2. Je____________ (entrer) le café vietnamien.

3. Il __________ (arriver) mardi, le 12 novembre.

4. Nous __________ (tomber) l’escalier.

5. Vous __________ (devenir) infirmier?

6. Ils __________ (mourir) en Allemagne.

Les réponses correctes:

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

1. Tu _es sorti avec Pierre?

2. Je__suis entré____ dans le café vietnamien.

3. Il __est arrivé________ mardi, le 12 novembre.

4. Nous _sommes tombés__dans l’escalier.

5. Vous _êtes devenu_________ infirmier?

6. Ils _sont morts_________ en Allemagne.

Re-cap

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

add back –é, -i, -u respectively.• There are 5 VANDERTRAMPs that are irregular:

venir, devenir, revenir, mourir, naître• The PC translates like this: je suis allé=I went, I

have gone, I did go.

Can you name the VANDERTRAMP verbs?

• D• R• M• R• S• P• V• A• N• D• E• R• T• R• A• M• P

Descendre to descendRetourner to returnMonter to climbRevenir to come back, returnPP: revenuSortir to exit or go outPasser to pass by (physically)Venir to come PP: venuAller to goNaître to be born PP: néDevenir to become PP: devenuEntrer to enterRentrer to returnTomber to fallRester to stay`Arriver to arriveMourir to die PP: mortPartir to leave (depart)