The Past Imperative in French

Quick Answer

The passé de l'impératif(past imperative) is a rather rare French tense used to give commands or express desires that are expected to have happened before some future moment.

examples
Ayez terminé le roman avant notre prochain cours. Have the novel read before our next class.
Sois rentré avant que les invités arrivent. Be home before the guests arrive.

examples

Ayez terminé le roman avant notre prochain cours.

Have the novel read before our next class.

Sois rentré avant que les invités arrivent.

Be home before the guests arrive.

In this article, you'll learn how and when to use the past imperative in French.

Questions This Article Answers

What is the past imperative in French?

How do you form commands in French?

How do you conjugate verbs in the past imperative in French?

The Past Imperative in French

The passé de l'impératif(past imperative) is a compound tense of the imperative mode(mood). It is used to give commands or express desires that are expected to have happened before some future moment. Here are some examples of the past imperative in French, which can be conjugated for only three persons: tu(you), nous(we), and vous(you or you-all):

examples
Aie rangé ta chambre avant de sortir avec tes amis. Have your room cleaned before you go out with your friends.
Soyons rentrés avant qu'il commence à neiger. Let's get back home before it starts to snow.
Ayez écrit le rapport d'ici la fin de la semaine. Have the report written by the end of the week.

Notice that in the examples above, the action of the past imperative is expected to have happened before the future moment indicated by avant(before) and d'ici(by).

A Rare Tense

The past imperative is rather rare. In most cases, the présent de l'impératif(present imperative) is used instead of (and even preferred over!) the past imperative (even when some action is expected to have happened before some future moment). All three examples above could be replaced by the present imperative:

examples
Range ta chambre avant de sortir avec tes amis. Clean your room before you go out with your friends.
Rentrons avant qu'il commence à neiger. Let's go home before it starts to snow.
Écrivez le rapport d'ici la fin de la semaine. Write the report by the end of the week.

examples

Range ta chambre avant de sortir avec tes amis.

Clean your room before you go out with your friends.

Rentrons avant qu'il commence à neiger.

Let's go home before it starts to snow.

Écrivez le rapport d'ici la fin de la semaine.

Write the report by the end of the week.

Learn more about the present imperative in French, which is encountered more often than the past imperative!

The Present Imperative in French

Conjugating Verbs in the Past Imperative in French

As a compound tense, the past imperative is composed of two important parts:

an auxiliary, either être(to be) or avoir(to have), conjugated in the present imperative
the past participle of the main verb

1. The Auxiliary

For the auxiliary, you conjugate either être or avoir in the present imperative. Être and avoir are considered exceptional, or irregular, in the present imperative because their imperative forms do not resemble their present indicative counterparts.

Auxiliaries Être and Avoir in the Present Imperative in French

Subject	avoir	être
(tu)	aie	sois
(nous)	ayons	soyons
(vous)	ayez	soyez

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. These 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 includes commonly used verbs such as aller(to go), venir(to come), and partir(to leave).
All other verbs take avoir.

Learn more about être and avoir and auxiliary selection.

The Difference Between Être and Avoir

2. The Past Participle of the Main Verb

The main verb is used in its past participle form, which is placed after the present imperative auxiliary, e.g., ayons gagné(let's have won). Luckily, there's a pattern to transforming infinitives into past participles:

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).

Combining the Auxiliary and the Past Participle

We are now ready to conjugate verbs in the past imperative! Let's try out some examples with the verb finir(to finish), which takes avoir as an auxiliary. Its past participle, which follows the pattern above, is fini(finished). This gives us the following conjugations for finir in the past imperative:

Finir in the Past Imperative in French

Subject	Past Imperative	English
(tu)	Aie fini tes devoirs avant le dîner.	Have your homework finished before dinner.
(nous)	Ayons fini nos devoirs avant le dîner.	Let's have our homework finished before dinner.
(vous)	Ayez fini vos devoirs avant le dîner.	Have your homework finished before dinner.

Notice how the action of finishing homework is expected to have happened avant le dîner(before dinner).

Now let's take a look at some examples with a verb that requires the auxiliary être, such as rentrer(to go home).

Rentrer in the Past Imperative in French

Subject	Past Imperative	English
(tu)	Sois rentré(e) avant minuit.	Be home before midnight.
(nous)	Soyons rentré(e)s avant minuit.	Let's be home before midnight.
(vous)	Soyez rentré(e)(s) avant minuit.	Be home before midnight.

Here, the action of getting home is expected to have happened avant minuit(before midnight).

Past Participle Agreement with Auxiliary Être

You may notice that the past participles in the table above have parentheses at the end. These parentheses signal gender and number agreement! If the auxiliary être is used with a non-pronominal verb, the past participle must agree with the addressee in gender and number. Here are some these handy rules to keep in mind:

An -e is added to the past participle if the addressee is feminine.

An -s is added if there is more than one addressee.

examples
Marc, sois revenu avant que le train parte. Marc, be back before the train departs.
Charlotte, sois revenue avant que le train parte. Charlotte, be back before the train departs.
Les garçons, soyez revenus avant que le train parte. Boys, be back before the train departs.
Les filles, soyez revenues avant que le train parte. Girls, be back before the train departs.

examples

Marc, sois revenu avant que le train parte.

Marc, be back before the train departs.

Charlotte, sois revenue avant que le train parte.

Charlotte, be back before the train departs.

Les garçons, soyez revenus avant que le train parte.

Boys, be back before the train departs.

Les filles, soyez revenues avant que le train parte.

Girls, be back before the train departs.

Be careful! Past participle agreement with the addressee does not happen with the auxiliary avoir.

Correct	Incorrect	English
Charlotte, aie acheté ton billet avant que le train parte.	Charlotte, aie achetée ton billet avant que le train parte.	Charlotte, have your ticket bought before the train departs.

Need Some Practice?

Try conjugating verbs in the passé de l'impératif with our Conjugation Drill! With a little practice, the passé de l'impératif will become a natural part of your conversations in French.