Le Passé Composé

1. Le Passé Composé

2. Passé Composé The past tense represents actions that did happen or that happened in the past. Examples: I played the guitar. He finished his homework. He waited. The Passé Composé is made up of two verbs: the helping verb or auxiliary verb PLUS the past participle of the verb. There are two verbs that are used as the auxiliary verb in French: avoir and être. MOST verbs use avoir as the helping verb.

3. The past tense represents actions that did happen or that took place at a specific time in the past. For example: hier yesterday hier après-midi yesterdayafternoon hier soir last night hier matin yesterdaymorning ce matin thismorning le week-end dernier last weekend l’année dernière last year la semaine dernière last week à 5 heures (5h) at 5 o’clock jeudisoir Thursday night

4. Now let’s take a look at how the Passé Composé is formed…

5. So…how does one conjugate the verb avoir in the Present tense? J’ai Nous avons Tu as Vousavez Il a Ilsont Elle a Ellesont On a

6. I played the guitar. J’aijouÉ de la guitare. He finished his homework. Il a finIses devoirs. He waited. Il a attendU.

7. To form the past participle of regular verbs that end in –er: You drop the –er at the end of a regular –er verb and add an –é (an –e with an accent aigu) Examples: skier – skié danser – dansé bronzer – bronzé

8. Le garçon a skié hier. La fille a dansé. L’homme a bronzé à la plage.

9. To conjugate a regular –er verb in the Passé Composé, you do the following: J’aichanté Nous avonschanté Tu as chantéVousavezchanté Il a chantéIlsontchanté Elle a chantéEllesontchanté On a chanté NOTE: The past participle does not change according to the subject of the sentence.

10. You’ll notice that the past tense is made up of two verbs: the helping verb, plus the past participle. On achanté.

11. To form the past participle of regular verbs that end in –ir: You drop the –ir at the end of a regular –ir verb and add an –i Examples: rougir – rougi choisir – choisi finir – fini

12. L’hommeafini.

13. To conjugate a regular –ir verb in the Passé Composé, you do the following: J’airempli Nous avonsrempli Tu as rempliVousavezrempli Il a rempliIlsontrempli Elle a rempliEllesontrempli On a rempli NOTE: The past participle does not change according to the subject of the sentence.

14. To form the past participle of regular verbs that end in –re: You drop the –re at the end of a regular –re verb and add an –u Examples: vendre– vendu descendre – descendu attendre – attendu

15. L’hommeavendu les hot dogs.

16. To conjugate a regular –re verb in the Passé Composé, you do the following: J’aiattendu Nous avonsattendu Tu as attenduVousavezattendu Il a attenduIlsontattendu Elle a attenduEllesontattendu On a attendu NOTE: The past participle does not change according to the subject of the sentence.

17. Try these examples: Il nage. Vous réussissez à la classe. Ils vendent leurs choses.

18. Il a nagé. Vousavezréussià la classe. Ilsontvenduleurs choses.

19. What are the past participles of the following verbs? punir discuter entrer voyager entendre

20. punir --- PUNI discuter --- DISCUTÉ adorer --- ADORÉ voyager --- VOYAGÉ entendre --- ENTENDU

21. Le père a puni son fils. Elle a adoré le garçon. La famille a voyagé en France.

22. There are also some IRREGULAR verbs that have REGULAR past participles. The verb payer, for example, is irregular in the Present tense, but has a regular past participle. The past participle is payé. Exemple: Nous avonspayél’addition.

23. Other verbs that are irregular in the Present tense, but have regular past participles are: aller --- allé partir --- parti sortir --- sorti servir --- servi dormir --- dormi

24. Le garçona dormien classe.

25. Most verbs that are irregular in the present tense have IRREGULAR past participles. (You’ll just need to memorize them!) Verbs like: avoir, être, faire, vouloir, pouvoir, boire, mettre, prendre, conduire, lire, écrire and direhave IRREGULAR past participles.

26. The irregular past participles of those verbs are as follows: eu été fait voulu pu bu mis pris conduit lu écrit dit avoir être faire vouloir pouvoir boire mettre prendre conduire lire écrire dire

27. Here are some examples to look at: La fille a conduit la voiture. Moi, j’aibu de l’eau. Tu as lu le livre. Elle a écritunelettre à son copain.

28. More irregular verbs and their irregular past participles… cru vu su connu dû reçu ouvert croire voir savoir connaître devoir recevoir ouvrir

29. Here are some examples to look at: Il a vuce film. Elle a reçuunebague de son mari. J’aiouvertla lettre. Tu as ouvert la boite aux lettres.

30. If the past participle of prendre is pris…what is the past participle for comprendre(to understand)? compris

31. Review of what we’ve learned… How is the Passé Composé different from the Present tense? How is it formed?

32. The Passé Composé represents actions that did happen or that took place at a specific time in the past. The Present tense represents actions happening now. The Passé Composé is made up of two verbs: the helping verb or auxiliary verb (avoir or être) PLUS the past participle of the verb. The Present tense is made up of one verb. Exemples: We are learning a lot in class. Nous apprenons beaucoup en classe. We learned a lot yesterday. Nous avonsapprisbeaucoup hier.

33. How do you know when to use être as the helping verb (auxiliary verb) in the Passé Composé?? Most verbs use avoir as the helping verb in the Passé Composé. However, there is a group of verbs that you should know that use être as the helping verb in the past tense.

34. First, let’s review how to conjugate the verb êtrein the Present tense? Je suisNous sommes TuesVousêtes Il estIlssont Elle estEllessont On est

35. There are 17 verbs that use être as the helping verb in the Passé Composé (And, you just need to remember them!) But, there are two ways that you can remember which verbs use être as the helping verb in the past tense.

36. The verbs that use être in the Passé Composé are known as the “coming and going” verbs. Some of those verbs are verbs like: entrer, rentrer, partir, sortir, aller, and descendre, for example. They represent verbs of motion.

37. Look at these verbs:

38. These same verbs can also be memorized as the Dr. & Mrs. P. Vandertrampverbs. descendrevenir rentrerarriver naître monterdevenir resterentrer sortirrevenir tomber partirretourner aller mourir passer

39. The following verbs use être as the helping verb: mourir (to die) naître (to be born) partir (to leave) descendre (to go down) tomber (to fall) sortir (to go out, exit) passer (to pass by) rester (to stay) rentrer (to return) entrer (to enter) arriver (to arrive) aller (to go) venir (to come) revenir (to come back) devenir (to become) retourner (to return) monter (to climb, go up)

40. How to conjugate the irregular verb venir in the Present tense: Je viens Nous venons TuviensVousvenez Il vientIlsviennent Elle vientEllesviennent On vient NOTE:Revenir and devenir are conjugated in the same way Example: Je reviens. Ilsdeviennent.

41. The verb passer can use avoir or être in the Passé Composé depending on its meaning. See the examples below: J’ai passé un examen. I took a test. Ma famillea passé du temps ensemble. My family spent time together. L’élèveest passé la salle de classe. The student passed by the classroom.

42. L’élèveest passé la salle de classe. The student passed by the classroom. ---------------------------------------- The student actually PASSED BY the classroom. In this instance, you would use the verb être as the helping verb.

43. Now, some of the verbs that use être in the past tense also have IRREGULAR past participles. mourir -- MORT naître-- NÉ partir-- parti descendre -- descendu tomber-- tombé sortir -- sorti passer -- passé rester-- resté rentrer-- rentré entrer-- entré arriver -- arrivé aller-- allé venir-- VENU revenir-- REVENU devenir-- DEVENU retourner-- retourné monter-- monté

44. Aside from the fact that these verbs use être in the Passé Composé, the other thing that is special about these verbs is… The past participles of these verbs MUST agree with the subject of the sentence in number and gender. For example: La filleest sortie de la classe. La filleestsortiE. (The past participle sortie ends in an –e to agree with the subject, la fille.)

45. Look at the following examples: L’hommeestparti. Les hommessontpartis. La filleesttombée. Les fillessonttombées. Je suisdescendu(e). Nous sommesdescendu(e)s.

46. Here is a verb conjugated with être in the Passé Composé. revenir Je suisrevenu(e) Nous sommesrevenu(e)s Tuesrevenu(e) Vousêtesrevenu(e)(s) Il estrevenuIlssontrevenus Elle est revenue Ellessont revenues On estrevenu NOTE: The past participles agree in number & gender with the subject of the sentence. If the subject is plural, like nous, the past participle must end in an –s.

47. Try the following examples: The girl fell. (the verb to fall is tomber) La fille… La filleesttombée. The girls fell. Les filles… Les fillessonttombées.

48. The girl stayed home. (the verb to stay is rester) La fille… La filleestrestée chez elle. The girls stayed home. Les filles… Les fillessontrestéeschez elle.

49. The boy left. (the verb to leave is partir) Le garçon… Le garçonestparti. The boys left. Les garçons… Les garçonssontpartis.

50. Review of what else we’ve learned… There is a group of verbs that you should know that use être as the helping verb in the past tense. The past participles of those verbs must agree in number and gender with the subject of the sentence.