Le pass é composé

1. Le passé composé The composite past tense in French Par Raoul Dufy.

2. Up until now we have learned to conjugate –ER, –IR, and –RE verbs in the present tense. We have not touched upon –OIR verbs, since the occurrence of these is fairly rare. MARCHER Je march-e Tu march-es Il march-e Elle march-e Nous march-ons Vous march-ez Ils march-ent Elles march-ent FINIR Je fin-is Tu fin-is Il fin-it Elle fin-it Nous fin-issons Vous fin-issez Ils fin-issent Elles fin-issent VENDRE Je vend-s Tu vend-s Il vend- Elle vend- Nous vend-ons Vousvend-ez Ilsvend-ent Ellesvend-ent Of course, the actual conjugation is written without the hyphen. The hyphens are included here to illustrate the formation of the verb.

3. Now that you have a grasp of how verbs are conjugated in French, we are ready to move on to the concept of tense. As in most languages (but certainly not all), time is understood in terms of past, present, and future. Generally speaking it is the verb which conveys this concept of time (tense). In both English and French, past tense may be conveyed by using a verb in the past tense (ate), or by using a composite tense (helping verb plus the past participle: have eaten). It is this latter form of the past tense—the passé composé—which will interest us now.

4. In order to use the passé composé, it is necessary to understand how to form the past participle. This is very easy. Simply take the root of a regular verb, then add a letter as follows:

5. Now that you are able to form the past participle, you are ready to start using the passé composé, which is generally formed by adding the past participle to the conjugation of AVOIR:

6. The passé composé is used to reference the immediate past, or that which has occurred within living memory. There is a tense for the historicpast, called the passé simple, but thatis a discussion for another time.

7. Write out the past participle for each of the following –ER verbs (whether you know its meaning or not). chercher écouter tuer cracher observer travailler reveiller cherché écouté tué craché observé travaillé reveillé

8. Now form the past participle for the verbs which follow: finir punir sortir réussir obéir frémir dormir fini puni sorti réussi obéi frémi dormi vendre pendre rendre descendre tendre entendre rompre vendu pendu rendu descendu tendu entendu rompu

9. Irregular Past Participles • All languages, of course, have their irregularities, and some verbs form their past participle in unusual ways. You will simply have to learn the past participles for the following verbs:

10. As if the passé composé isn’t already complicated enough, there are a number of verbs which are conjugated only with être. These have to be memorized.

11. Rester Tomber Arriver Partir Venir Revenir Aller Entrer Sortir Descendre Monter Retourner Michel Duval 1970 – 2020 La maison d’être Mourir Naître

12. There are various tricks for rememberingwhichverbs are conjugatedwith être. Allreflexiveverbs are conjugatedwith être. My favorite mnemonicdevicewas Mrs. Van der Tramp. When I came to America, I wasintroduced to herphysician, Dr. V.E. Mantraps. Remember, simply, that all of the verbs from the House of Être are included, as are any verbs containing the same root. In order to conjugate the verbs that go with être, you will need to know their past participles.

13. Elle est montée l’escalier. Il est rentré envers six heures. Il est sorti. Elle est sortie aussi. Elle est venue au boum chez nous. Je suis allée au supermarché. Il est né le 6 juin, 1986. Elle est descendue à neuf heures. Elle est entrée dans la salle. Je suis retourné chez moi à six heures. Elle est tombée par terre. Elle est revenue à minuit. Il est arrivé hier à midi. Elle est morte il y a deux jours. Il est partie avec ma petite amie.

14. You now have a basic understanding of how to use the passé composé. You are able to communicate in both present and past tenses, and to use the simple future tense using aller.

15. Fin PowerPoint presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA, MEd, MA (2009). Par Raoul Dufy.