The Passé Composé in French
Questions This Article Answers
What is the passé composé in French?
When do you use the passé composé in French?
What tenses does the passé composé correspond to in English?
How do you conjugate verbs in the passé composé in French?
The Passé Composé in French
The passé composé(compound past) is a temps composé(compound tense) that is used to talk about the following:
- an action that was completed in the past,
- a past action that has relevance in the present,
- a change in state.
The passé composé usually corresponds to the simple past or the present perfect in English. For example, the French sentence J'ai mangé une pomme.could mean either of the sentences below in English.
- I ate an apple. (in the simple past)
- I have eaten an apple. (in the present perfect)
Let's first explore when the passé composé is used in French!
1. A Completed Action
The passé composé is used to express an action that was completed in the past.
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Repeated Actions
The passé composé can be used when actions happen several times in the past, as in the example above about Sophia. However, when there is an emphasis on an action being habitual, the imparfait(imperfect) is used instead in French. Compare the first sentence below in the passé composé with the second sentence in the imparfait.
It can be very tricky to know when to use the passé composé and when to use the imparfait. Read more about the passé composé and the imparfait in the articles below!
2. A Past Action That Has Relevance in the Present
The passé composé can be used to express a past action that has relevance in the present. This often corresponds to the present perfect in English.
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3. A Change in State
The passé composé is used in French to express a change in state in the past. This may often describe a change in mental or emotional state.
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Actions That Started in the Past with Depuis
Attention !(Be careful!) You may be tempted to translate all sentences that started in the past with the passé composé in French! This is never the case for sentences that specify how long an action has been taking place with depuis(for, since)! French instead uses the present tense in this case.
Conjugating Verbs in the Passé Composé in French
As a compound tense, the passé composé is composed of two parts:
- an auxiliary, either être(to be) or avoir(to have), conjugated in the present tense,
- the past participle of the main verb.
1. The Auxiliary
For the auxiliary, you conjugate either être or avoir in the present tense. These verbs have the following irregular conjugations:
Auxiliaries Être and Avoir in the Present in French
| Subject | être | avoir |
|---|---|---|
| je | je suis | j'ai |
| tu | tu es | tu as |
| il, elle, on | elle est | elle a |
| nous | nous sommes | nous avons |
| vous | vous êtes | vous avez |
| ils, elles | ils sont | ils ont |
Auxiliary Selection
Whether you choose être or avoir depends on the main verb you are using! Here are some general guidelines:
- All pronominal verbs take être. Pronominal verbs are verbs like se lever(to get up), se préparer(to get ready), and se soucier(to worry).
- A small set of 17 intransitive verbs, which are sometimes called "movement verbs," take être. This set includes commonly used verbs such as aller(to go), venir(to come), and partir(to leave).
- All other verbs take avoir.
Deciding between être and avoir can be challenging. Learn more about these auxiliaries here:
2. The Past Participle of the Main Verb
The main verb appears in its past participle form, which is placed after the auxiliary, e.g., nous avons gagné(we (have) won). Fortunately, there is a pattern for transforming infinitives into past participles in French! For regular verbs, the infinitive endings correspond to the following past participle endings:
Regular Past Participle Endings in French
| Infinitive Ending | Past Participle Ending |
|---|---|
| -er | -é |
| -ir | -i |
| -re | -u |
Here's how the pattern works:
- An -er verb like gagner(to win) becomes gagné(won).
- An -ir verb like définir(to define) becomes défini(defined).
- An -re verb like entendre(to hear) becomes entendu(heard).
There are of course exceptions to this pattern! For example, the past participle of faire(to do, to make) is fait(done, made) and the past participle of prendre(to take) is pris(taken).
Do you want to know more about past participles in French? Check out the following article!
Combining the Auxiliary and the Past Participle
We are now ready to conjugate verbs in the passé composé! Let's try out some examples with the verb chanter(to sing), which takes avoir as an auxiliary. As a regular verb, the past participle of chanter is chanté(sung). This gives us the following conjugations for chanter in the passé composé:
Chanter in the Passé Composé in French
Now let's take a look at an example with a verb that requires the auxiliary être, such as partir(to leave).
Partir in the Passé Composé in French
Past Participle Agreement
You may have noticed that the past participles in the table above have parentheses at the end of their forms. These represent gender and number agreement! This is known as l'accord du participe passé(past participle agreement). The rules for past participle agreement differ depending on whether the auxiliary être is used with a non-pronominal verb (like we just saw above) or a pronominal verb (as we'll see next), but agreement can even occur when the auxiliary avoir is used!
Do you want to know more about the interesting yet tricky rule of past participle agreement in French? There's a section dedicated to it in the following article!
Finally, let's take a look at a pronominal verb like se dépêcher (to hurry). Remember that all pronominal verbs take the auxiliary être!
Se Dépêcher in the Passé Composé in French
And that's the passé composé! The nice thing about learning how to form the passé composé is that once you learn one compound tense, the rules for auxiliary selection and past participles formation can be applied to other compound tenses!
Need Some Practice?
Try conjugating verbs in the passé composé with our Conjugation Drill! With a little practice, the passé composé will become a natural part of your conversations in French.
Explore more articles about compound tenses in French!
