Question

French Tutorial: Passé Composé (Past Tense)

Answer 1

Passé composé (hereafter PC) is used to describe completed actions, especially when that completed action is still relevant to the present state.

To convert a present tense verb to passé composé: take the verb être and avoir as appropriate, then add the past participle (which will depend on the verb ending.) Most PC forms use avoir, but verbs related to states of being (will cover this later) use être

Regular Past Participles:

-er verbs: drop the final -r and add é
ex: chanter ---> chanté

J'ai chanté dans la chorale. (I sang in the choir.)

-ir verbs: drop the final -r
ex: finir ---> fini

Ils ont fini de travail. (They finished working.)

-re verbs: drop the final -re and add u
ex: vendre --> vendu

Vous l'avez vendu. (You sold it.)

Answer 2

Irregular Past Participles:

As a rule of thumb, verbs that are irregular in the present tense are also irregular in their participle forms. Grouping them will make them easier to learn.

- être --> été

j'ai été bien. (I have been good.)

- participles ending in -s
apprendre ---> appris (prendre and comprendre also follow this pattern)
mettre --> mis (also see remettre, promettre, permettre)

Il a appris plusieurs langues. (He learned many languages.)

- participles ending in -t
conduire --> conduit (similar to produire, traduire)
couvrir --> couvert (similar to ouvert and souffrir)
dire --> dit (similar to écrire and faire)

C'est ce qu'elle a dit. (That's what she said.)

- participles ending in -i
dormir --> dormi (similar to mentir, sentir, servir)
- suivre --> suivi (similar to poursuivre)

Ils ont dormi jusqu'à midi. (They slept until noon.)

Answer 3

Negative Form
ne + être/avoir + past participle + pas

Cela ne m'a pas dérangé. (It didn't bother me.)
Je ne suis pas allé. (I did not go.)

Interrogatives
in the inverted question form, être/avoir is conjugated and the subject pronoun is appended to it with a hyphen. the participle follows.

As-tu lavé la vaisselle? (Have you washed the dishes?)

Alternatively, in the est-ce que and non-inverted form, the typical subject + être/avoir + past participle is used.

Nous avons commencé? (Have we started?)
Est-ce que ils ont réalisé? (Have they realized?)

Adverbs:
in the affirmative form, adverbs go between être/avoir and the past participle. in the negative form, adverbs go after pas.

ex: J'ai souvent concouru avec mon frère. (I often competed with my brother.)
Nous ne courions pas habituellement (We did not usually run.)

Answer 4

être: PC verbs with être generally refer to change of location or being. Important note: the past participle must agree with the subject in gender & number.

examples:
(être) arrivê/e/s: arrived
(être) devenu/e/s: became

Ils sont arrivés hier. (They arrived yesterday.)
Elle est devenue malheureuse. (She became unhappy.)

Object Pronouns:

Object pronouns (direct and indirect) are generally placed before être and avoir.

Avoir form:
Direct object pronouns agree in gender and number with the subject/past participle.
Indirect object pronouns do not agreee with the past participle.

Être form: the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject

Les trolls sont tombés dans les escaliers. (The trolls fell down the stairs.)
Le spammeur est mort. (The spammer died.)

ex: Je les ai triés. (I sorted them.)
Je ne leur ai pas parlé. (I did not speak to them.)

normally je would take trié not triés, but since the direct object is plural, the pronoun and participle are, too. but in the second case, where leur is acting as an indirect object pronoun, leur is plural while parlé is singular (doesn't change to parlés)

Answer 5

Pronomial Verbs: take être. the past participle for pronomial verbs agrees with the reflexive pronoun (with some exceptions, which we will describe below). the reflexive pronoun comes before être.

ex: Je me suis brossé les dents. (I brushed my teeth.)
Nous nous sommes entraidés. (We helped each other. note: notice that the past participle is changed to agree with nous)

However, the past participle does not agree with the pronoun when...

- the verb takes an indirect object.

ex:
Je leur ai parlé. (I talked to them. Note: parlé does not agree with leur)

- the verb takes a direct object noun

Ils se sont brossé les cheveux. (They brushed their hair. Note: brossé does not agree with se)

Answer 6

\({\bf{References:}}\)

Rochester, Myrna B. Easy French Step-by-Step, United States, McGraw-Hill Education, 2009, 278-298.

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/passe-compose/

CollinsDictionary for French and English translations

Forvo (https://forvo.com/), a French pronunciation database with samples from native French speakers