Le passé composé (the perfect tense)

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

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

Auxiliary verb J’ ai Tu as Il a Elle a Nous avons Vous avez Ils ont Elles ont

Past participles To form the past participle of –er verbs, take the -er off the infinitive and replace it with -é Regular –ir verbs form the past participles by taking off the final –r Regular -re verbs take off the final –re and replace it with u

Irregular past participles Avoir = Eu Boire = Bu Lire = Lu Voir = vu

Venir = Venu Dire = Dit Écrire = Écrit Faire = fait

Prendre = Pris Apprendre = Appris Comprendre = Compris Mettre = mis

In the perfect tense most verbs take the auxiliary verb Avoir But some take Être- To help you learn which verbs take être you can memorise the mnemonic MRS VANDER TRAMP

MRS VANDER TRAMP Mourir Retourner Sortir Venir Aller Naître Descendre Entrer Rester Tomber Retourner Arriver Monter Partir

Agreement Notice that with verbs that take être as the auxiliary verb, the past participle agrees with the subject (the person or thing doing the action). If the subject is feminine you must add an extra -e and if the subject is plural you must add an extra -s. If it is plural and feminine you must add -es!

OK…. Try some of these sentences then…. 1. I ate and strawberry ice cream. J’ai mangé une glace à la fraise. 2.He played rugby for England Il a joué au rugby pour Angleterre. 3.We went on holiday to Spain last year. Nous sommes allés en Espagne l’année dernière. .4. They watched a horror film at the cinema .It was frightening. Ils ont regardé un film d’horreur au cinéma. C’était effrayant.

Bravo! Alors…… Do you know when to use the past tense? Do you know how to form the past tense? Do you know when to use avoir and when to use être? Bravo!