In this French grammar lesson we will learn about how to form the passé composé.
In this lesson you will learn about:
- the structure of the passé composé
- how to form the passé composé,
- how to know if you should choose Avoir or Être
- how to find the past participle,
- how to make the verb agree in gender and in number with the subject,
- how the passé composé is used in sentences,
- how you can immediately test your knowledge on how to form the passé composé,
- how Anki files can be downloaded on the topic of how to form the passé composé.
Please refer to the French A2 Curriculum to get a better overview of French grammar if you are curious about how to form the passé composé fits in French A2 grammar.
By the end of the lesson you will know all about how to form the passé composé.
Table of Contents
The Structure of the Passé Composé
| 1. Pronoun | 2. Avoir/Être | 3. Past Participle |
The Passé Composé consists out of three parts
- A Pronoun
- Avoir or Être in the Present Tense
- A Past Participle
Of these three elements, only the third is new. The first two you should already know.
Here’s a recap of the pronouns, and the conjugations of Avoir and Être as a refresher.
| Pronouns | Avoir | Être |
| Je/J’ | ai | suis |
| Tu | as | es |
| Il/Elle/On | a | est |
| Nous | avons | sommes |
| Vous | avez | êtes |
| Ils/Elles | ont | sont |
Please take a moment to reflect on this. You will need to know them well to form the passé composé.
Are you ready?
If so, then let’s go to how to form the passé composé!
How to Form the Passé Composé
| 1. Pronoun | 2. Avoir/Être | 3. Past Participle |
In order to form the Passé Composé one must:
- Choose the Pronoun that is applicable in a situation.
- Conjugate Avoir or Être in the Present Tense.
- Add the Past Participle.
Imagine that I wish to say “I spoke”.
How would I do this?
- je
The pronoun for I in French is je.
- ai
Conjugating avoir in the I form will lead to ai.
- parlé
The past participle of parler is parlé.
So when you wish to say “I spoke” in French you get:
J’ai parlé
But there are 2 questions that you are probably wondering about.
- How do I know when to use avoir or être?
- How do I know what the right past participle of a verb is?
These are important questions if we want to know how to form the passé composé.
We are going to find them out in the following chapters!
How to Know if You Should Choose Avoir or Être
Almost all verbs in French take avoir in the passé composé.
In fact, if you memorise which verbs take être then you can always know which one to use.
So which verbs take être?
There are just two cases that you need to know.
- There’s a special mnemonic called: Dr Mrs Vandertramp. Each letter in that phrase respresent the beginning of a verb which needs être in the passé composé
- Devenir
- Revenir
- Mourir
- Rentrer
- Sortir
- Venir
- Arriver
- Naître
- Descendre
- Entrer
- Retourner
- Tomber
- Rester
- Aller
- Mourir
- Partir
- All reflexive verbs. These are verbs that take ‘se’ in front of them.
Here are some examples of reflexive verbs:
- se lever
- s’amuser
- s’habiller
- se coucher
- se sentir
Now that you know whether to use avoir or être, we can focus on finding the past participle!
How to find the Past Participle
When we want to form the passé composé we need to use the correct past participle.
But, how do we find the past participle?
There are three main groups in French for past participles, and one group of exceptions.
- Verbs with an é ending
- Verbs with a u ending
- Verbs with an i ending
- Exceptions
Verbs with an é ending
Almost all regular -er verbs have an é ending as a past participle
er -> é
parler -> parlé
manger -> mangé
regarder -> regardé
Verbs with a u ending
Almost all regular -re verbs have an u ending as a past participle
re -> u
vendre -> vendu
attendre -> attendu
repondre -> repondu
However, there are also some other important irregular verbs which also take an u as a past participle.
Verbs with an i ending
Almost all regular -ir verbs have an i ending as a past participle.
ir -> i
choisir -> choisi
finir -> fini
grandir -> grandi
However, there are also some other important irregular verbs which also take an i as a past participle.
Exceptions
There are a few important verbs which are an exception.
The most notable ones are the first three.
Now that you know how to find the past participle, we will move on to the last topic on how to form the passé composé.
How to Make the Verb Agree in Gender and Number
When you use the passé composé with verbs that require être, you need to make the verb agree in gender and in number with the subject.
However, what does it mean to make the verb agree in gender and in number?
Please take a look at the following 4 sentences.
Il est allé à Paris.
He went to Paris.
In this sentence the past participle (allé) is how one would except it. There’s no special ending to it. That is because the subject is masculine and singular
Elle est allée à Paris.
She went to Paris.
In this sentence the past participle (alléé) is different to how one would expect it. There is an extra é added. This is because the subject is feminine and singular.
Ils sont allés à Paris.
They went to Paris.
In this sentence the past participle (allés) is different to how one would expect it. There is an extra s added. This is because the subject is masculine and plural.
Elles sont allées à Paris.
They [all women] went to Paris.
In this sentence the past participle (allées) is different to how one would expect it. There is an extra es added. This is because the subject is feminine and plural.
Here’s a useful table which will help you to remember the endings.
| Masculine | Feminine | |
| Singular | – | –e |
| Plural | –s | –es |
There may be some confusion when using the pronoun vous as it can mean
- singular formal you
- plural you
So, how do you use vous in the passé composé?
Here are 4 examples for you that will make this clear.
M. Martin, vous êtes arrivé ici hier.
Mr. Martin, you arrived here yesterday.
In this example the subject is masculine and singular. Nothing special happens to the past participle (arrivé)
Mme Caron, vous êtes arrivée ici hier.
Ms Caron, you arrived here yesterday.
In this example the subject is is feminine and singular, so an e is added.
Jean et toi, Alexandra, vous êtes arrivés ici hier.
Jean and you, Alexandra, you arrived here yesterday.
In this example the subject is masculine and plural. It doesn’t matter if there is one man or a million. As long as there is at least one man then the gender will always be masculine. So an s is added.
Bridgette et toi, Alexandra, vous êtes arrivées ici hier.
Bridgette and you, Alexandra, you arrived here yesterday.
In this example the subject is feminine and plural. So an es is added.
If it is the singular version then please look at the singular row to determine the ending, and then to whether the subject is singular or plural.
If it is plural then please look at the plural row to determine the ending, and then to whether the subject is masculine or feminine.
Example Sentences with the Passé Composé
The final section of this lesson on how to form the passé composé is about seeing the passé composé in action.
This is valuable because you can improve your understanding on how to form the passé composé through examples.
Parler
J’ai parlé.
I spoke.
Manger
Qu’as-tu mangé hier ?
What did you eat yesterday?
Aller
Il est allé à Paris.
He went to Paris.
Aller
Elle est allée à Paris.
She went to Paris.
Aller
Ils sont allés à Paris.
They went to Paris.
Aller
Elles sont allées à Paris.
They [all women] went to Paris.
Arriver
M. Martin, vous êtes arrivé ici hier.
Mr. Martin, you arrived here yesterday.
Arriver
Mme Caron, vous êtes arrivée ici hier.
Ms Caron, you arrived here yesterday.
Arriver
Jean et toi, Alexandra, vous êtes arrivés ici hier.
Jean and you, Alexandra, you arrived here yesterday.
Arriver
Bridgette et toi, Alexandra, vous êtes arrivées ici hier.
Bridgette and you, Alexandra, you arrived here yesterday.
Test Your Knowledge on How to Form the Passé Composé
It’s not enough just to read this article on how to form the passé composé.
You should test your knowledge to see if you really understood everything, and to be able to repeat the material.
It is also for this reason that it is recommended to download the Anki Decks and do them.
Now that you are done with this lesson on how to form the passé composé you can do a small test.
You will see the sentences of the previous chapter in a small test. It is up to you to give the correct answer.
You will either need to fill in the blanks, choose the correct multiple choice option, or both.
Once you are done the correct answer will be shown.
You can redo the test on how to form the passé composé as many times as you want. There’s no limit to it!
If you want to test your skills on the topic of how to form the passé composé then you should really do it!
Anki File for How to Form the Passé Composé
It is important to do the Anki excercises for this lesson on how to form the passé composé, so that you can remember what you just studied.
By downloading the Anki File for French A2 you can practice every French A2 lesson that is on Language Atlas.
At this moment the Anki File for how to form the passé composé doesn’t exist yet. However, in due time this will be available on Language Atlas.
If you don’t know why you should use Anki, or don’t know how to use Anki or merge Anki files please click here.
Anki can be downloaded from here.
