2. Le Passé Composé The Past Tense

3. Verb tenses Actions do not always take place in the present. To express the past in French, use the verb tense called… le passé composé

4. -er Verbs This is what a verb tense in the passé composé looks like: regarder J’ai regardé la photo. I looked at the picture.

5. -ir Verbs finir Nous avons fini les croissants. We finished the croissants.

6. -re Verbs rendre La prof a rendu nos devoirs. The teacher returned our homework.

7. How to form the passé composé To form the passé composé of –er verbs, drop the –er of the infinitive and add an –é. Don’t forget the helping verb avoir! J’ai acheté une robe. I bought a dress.

8. How to form the passé composé To form the passé composé of –ir verbs, drop the –ir of the infinitive and add an –i. (Note: There are some exceptions) Il a choisi la chemise bleue. He chose the blue shirt.

9. How to form the passé composé To form the passé composé of –re verbs, drop the –re of the infinitive and add a –u. (Note: There are some exceptions) Nous avons vendu le vieil ordinateur. We sold the old computer.

10. The Passé Composé in Negative Sentences To make a sentence negative, put the n’ before the form of avoir and the pas after it. Mon père n’a pas mangé la salade. Vous n’avez pas maigri. Elles n’ont pas perdu le match de tennis.

11. Le Passé Composé in Questions To ask a question in the passé composé using inversion, put the subject pronoun after the form of avoir. Avons-nous visité votre soeur? Have we visited your sister?

12. SUMMARY 1. Use the passé composé when an event has happened in the past. 2. Form the passé composé with a form of avoir and the past participle of the main verb. Subj. + form of avoir + past participle of main verb

13. SUMMARY Subj. + form of avoir + past participle of main verb  (célébrer = to celebrate) Tu + as + célébré “el cinco de mayo”. You celebrated “el cinco de mayo”.

14. SUMMARY Subj. + form of avoir + past participle of main verb  (grossir = to get fat/ to gain weight) (Je J’) J’ + ai + grossi.

15. SUMMARY Subj. + form of avoir + past participle of main verb  (perdre = to lose) Paul + a + perdu cinq dollars. Paul lost five dollars.