1. PassÉ composÉ
formation

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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?

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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

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