1. Le passé composé (the perfect tense)

2. The perfect tense – Le passé composé In French you use the perfect tense (le passé composé) to say what you have done in the past. The passé composé is usually formed by using the present tense of avoir and the past participle of the verb, just as in English

3. Par exemple: Jai joué = I have played Nous avons gagné = We have won Elle a dormi = She has slept Tu as répondu = You have replied

4. LAuxiliaire (Auxiliary verb) Jai Tuas Ila Ellea Nousavons Vousavez Ilsont Ellesont

5. Participe Passe (Past participle) REGULAR PAST PARTICIPLES

6. ER VERBS To form the past participle of regular –er verbs, take the -er off the infinitive and add é Ex: Parler - parlé Chanter - chanté

7. IR VERBS To form the past participle of regular –ir verbs, take the –ir off the infinitive and add i Ex: Finir - fini Choisir - choisi

8. RE VERBS To form the past participle of regular –re verbs, take the -re off the infinitive and add u Ex: Vendre – vendu Defendre - defendu

9. Some verbs form the passé composé use the auxiliary verb AVOIR, but have irregular past participles.

10. Irregular past participles Avoir = Eu Boire = Bu Lire = Lu Voir = Vu Être = Été Ouvrir = Ouvert Découvrir = Découvert

11. Dire = Dit Écrire = Écrit Faire = Fait Croire = cru Devoir = Dû Savoir = Su

12. Prendre = pris Apprendre = appris Comprendre = compris Mettre = mis Offrir = offert Recevoir = réçu Courir = couru

13. Negative sentences To make a sentence negative, use ne…pas. Put ne before the conjugated verb (the auxiliary verb). Remember to use n before a vowel. Put pas after the conjugated verb (the auxiliary verb). Jai parlé. Je nai pas parlé.