PassÉ composÉ formation

Helping verb + past participle Above is the formula to write a verb in the passé composé. Both pieces are needed. Most verbs in French use avoir as the helping verb. In the present tense, avoir means to have but in the past tense, it does not translate. It is simply there to help. Avoir J’ai Nous avons Tu as Vous avez Il a ils ont Elle a elles ont On a

Past participles After choosing the correct form of the verb avoir, the next step is to add the past participle. To turn a verb in to a past participle, the following rules apply: Regular –er verbs: change –er to é Modèle: chanter: chanté Regular –ir verbs: change –ir to i Modèle: finir: fini Regular –re verbs: change –re to u Modèle: vendre: vendu

Putting it together Passé composé = helping verb (usually avoir) + past participle -er verbs J’ai joué. I played Tu as mangé. You ate. Il a regardé la télé. He watched TV. Nous avons dîné. We dined. Vous avez aimé. You liked. Ils ont écouté. They listened.

Irregular Verbs Many verbs have irregular past participles. For the following verbs, use avoir as the helping verb along with the correct past participle. Common irregular past participles: faire: fait devoir: dû avoir: eu dormir: dormi être: été vouloir: voulu voir: vu écrire: écrit mettre: mis conduire: conduit prendre: pris boire: bu

Conjugating irregular verbs J’ai fait mes devoirs. I did my homework. Nous avons mis nos manteaux. We put on our coats. Vous avez pris mon crayon? Did you take my pencil? Elles ont bu de la limonade. They drank lemonade. Tu as écrit à ton amie? Did you write to your friend?

Verbs that use être as helping verb Two groups of verbs take être as a helping verb. First let’s review the conjugation of être: je suis tu es il est elle est nous sommes vous êtes ils sont elles sont In the present tense, être means to be but this does not translate in the passé composé; like avoir it is simply there to help.

Mrs dr vandertrampp Use the above acronym to help you remember the verbs that take être as a helping verb. M: monter: to go up R: revenir: to come back S: sortir: to leave D: devenir: to become R: rentrer: to return

V: venir: to come A: aller: to go N: naître: to be born D: descendre: to go down, descend E: entrer: to enter R: retourner: to return T: tomber: to fall R: rester: to stay A: arriver: to arrive M: monter: to go up P: partir: to leave P: passer: to pass by

Vandertrampp past participles monter: monté revenir: revenu sortir: sorti devenir: devenu rentrer: rentré venir: venu aller: allé naître: né descendre: descendu entrer: entré retourner: retourné

Past participles continued tomber: tombé rester: resté arriver: arrivé monter: monté partir: parti passer: passé *when passer is used to mean to spend time, use avoir as a helping verb. All verbs that take être as a helping verb must agree in gender and number with the subject.

modÈles Francine est sortie. Francine went out. Notice the extra e on the past participle to reflect the gender of the subject. Suzanne et Amélie sont allées au supermarché. Suzanne and Amélie went to the supermarket. allées reflects a feminine plural subject. Franck et Guillaume sont venus à la boum. Franck and Guillaume came to the party. S is added to reflect masculine plural.

modèles Elle est tombée dans la rue. She fell in the street. Feminine singular subject. One e is added to the past participle. Il est né en France. He was born in France. Masculine singular subject; therefore no e or s is added. Vous êtes arrivées a l’heure? Did you arrive on time? Vous can be singular or plural, masculine or feminine. The past participle arrivées indicates a feminine plural subject.

Reflexive verbs Reflexive verbs also take être as a helping verb in the passé composé. Many reflexive verbs are also regular –er verbs. se réveiller: to wake up se lever: to get up se brosser les dents: to brush one’s teeth se raser: to shave se peigner: to comb one’s hair se dépêcher: to hurry se reposer: to rest

reflexive verbs se maquiller: to put on make-up s’habiller: to get dressed se laver: to wash s’amuser: to have fun s’appeler: to call oneself In terms of conjugation, the only difference between the above verbs and regular –er verbs is the reflexive pronoun.

se lever Je me suis levé: I got up tu t’es levé: you got up il s’est levé: he got up elle s’est levée: she got up on s’est levé(e)s (On can be singular or plural, masculine or feminine) nous nous sommes levé(e)s (this could be masculine or feminine but is always plural) vous vous êtes levé(e)(s) (this could be masculine, feminine, singular or plural) ils se sont levés: they got up elles se sont levées: they (females) got up.

Summary of conjugation Mrs DR Vandertrampp and reflexive verbs take être as a helping verb and must show agreement. All others take avoir and do not show agreement (There are exceptions to this but let’s not get carried away at this point. If it takes avoir, don’t show agreement) Memorize the Vandertrampp verbs to recognize when to use être. Remember that reflexive verbs also take être. All other verbs take avoir.

When to use passÉ composÉ specific, one time events. main events that move the story forward. When telling a story, the actions that indicate what happened well-defined actions completed at a specific point in time described what people did, what took place, what happened

Common expressions for passé composé D’abord, ensuite, puis, apres ca, enfin, finalement Soudain (suddenly) Tout à coup (suddenly) Au moment où (just when)