So far you can say what you do: je joue au soccer (I play soccer). But as soon as you tell a friend about your weekend, describe a trip or write about something that happened at work, you need the past. The everyday French tense for this is the passé composé (literally compound past). It is called compound because it is made of two words: a helper verb, called the auxiliary, and a past participle. J'ai mangé means I ate: ai is the present tense of avoir, and mangé is the past participle of manger. English does something very similar in I have eaten. The good news is that French uses this one structure where English has three: j'ai mangé can mean I ate, I have eaten or I did eat, depending on context. The great majority of verbs use avoir as the auxiliary; the next lesson covers the small group that uses être.
Building the passé composé
| Subject | Avoir (présent) | Past participle | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| j' | ai | parlé | I spoke, I have spoken |
| tu | as | parlé | you spoke |
| il / elle / on | a | parlé | he / she / one spoke |
| nous | avons | parlé | we spoke |
| vous | avez | parlé | you (plural or polite) spoke |
| ils / elles | ont | parlé | they spoke |
Regular past participles
| Verb group | Rule | Examples | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| -er verbs | drop -er, add -é | parler → parlé, manger → mangé, jouer → joué | Nous avons joué au hockey. (We played hockey.) |
| -ir verbs | drop -ir, add -i | finir → fini, choisir → choisi, réussir → réussi | Tu as fini tes devoirs ? (Did you finish your homework?) |
| -re verbs | drop -re, add -u | vendre → vendu, attendre → attendu, répondre → répondu | Elle a attendu le bus. (She waited for the bus.) |
Irregular past participles
The verbs you use most are the ones with irregular participles, so these are worth memorising. They fall into a few families by ending, which makes them much easier to learn. Many end in -u, a handful in -is or -it, and a few in -ert.
| Ending | Infinitive → participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -u | avoir → eu, boire → bu, lire → lu, voir → vu, pouvoir → pu, vouloir → voulu, devoir → dû, savoir → su, recevoir → reçu, courir → couru, connaître → connu, croire → cru, vivre → vécu | J'ai lu un roman. (I read a novel.) Nous avons vu un film. (We saw a movie.) |
| -is | prendre → pris (apprendre → appris, comprendre → compris), mettre → mis | Il a pris le métro. (He took the subway.) J'ai mis mon manteau. (I put on my coat.) |
| -it | faire → fait, dire → dit, écrire → écrit | Elle a fait ses devoirs. (She did her homework.) Tu as écrit à Sami ? (Did you write to Sami?) |
| -ert | ouvrir → ouvert, offrir → offert | Ils ont ouvert la porte. (They opened the door.) |
| one of a kind | être → été | J'ai été malade. (I was sick.) |
Negatives, questions and short adverbs
- Negative: ne … pas wraps the auxiliary, and the participle follows: Je n'ai pas fini. (I didn't finish.) Ils n'ont jamais vu la mer. (They have never seen the sea.)
- Question with intonation or est-ce que: Tu as mangé ? / Est-ce que tu as mangé ? (Did you eat?) Question words go first: Qu'est-ce que tu as fait samedi ? (What did you do on Saturday?)
- Short adverbs such as déjà (already), bien (well), mal (badly), beaucoup (a lot), trop (too much) and encore (again, still) go between the auxiliary and the participle: J'ai déjà mangé. (I have already eaten.) Nous avons bien dormi. (We slept well.)
- Time expressions such as hier (yesterday) or samedi passé (last Saturday) go at the start or the end of the sentence: Hier, j'ai travaillé. / J'ai travaillé hier.
Translation: Last Saturday, I worked at my uncle's café in Moncton. I made sandwiches and I washed the dishes. My cousin served the customers. After work, I met up with my friends at the park. We played soccer and we ate pizza. In the evening, I watched a movie, but I didn't finish my homework! On Sunday, I read a novel and I wrote an email to my grandmother. Notice the pattern in every bolded verb: a form of avoir that matches the subject, then a participle. Regular -er verbs give -é (travaillé, préparé, lavé, retrouvé, joué, mangé, regardé), finir gives fini, servir gives servi, and the irregular lire and écrire give lu and écrit. In the negative, ne … pas surrounds only ai.