In this section:

• uses of the passé composé

• formation of the passé composé

• negation of the passé composé

• the passé composé with être

• irregular past particples

uses of the passé composé

The passé composé is the most commonly used tense to refer to actions completed in the past. The passé composé may be translated into English in three different ways depending on the context.

formation of the passé composé

This tense is called the passé composé because it is composed of two elements: the present tense of an auxiliary verb (either avoir or être), followed by a past participle:

passé composé = present tense of auxiliary + past participle

Note that in most instances the auxiliary verb is avoir, but some verbs require être as the auxiliary.

For regular verbs with an infinitive ending in -er, the past participle is formed by replacing the final -er of the infinitive with -é. Listen carefully to the pronunciation of the passé composé of the verb ‘parler’. The past participle (parlé) is pronounced the same as the infinitive (parler), even though they are spelled differently.

The past participle of regular verbs with an infinitive ending in -ir is formed by dropping the final -r from the infinitive. For example, the past participle of finir is fini.

The past participle of regular verbs with an infinitive ending in -re is formed by replacing the final -re of the infinitive with -u. For example, the past participle of perdre is perdu.

negation of the passé composé

Negation of the passé composé is formed by placing ne … pas around the conjugated verb, which, in this case, is the auxiliary avoir.

Je n‘ai pas perdu mes devoirs.  Ils n‘ont pas perdu le match.

the passé composé with être

Remember the passé composé = present tense of auxiliary + past participle.

Note that in most instances the auxiliary verb is avoir, but some verbs require être as the auxiliary.

When using être as the auxiliary verb, note that the past participle MUST agree with the subject in number and in gender.

With masculine singular subjects there is no change to the past participle.

With feminine singular subjects add an -e.

With masculine plural subjects add an -s.

With feminine plural subjects add an -es.

See the table below for examples.  The pronouns je, tu, nous, and vous may be feminine depending on context.   Nous is always plural and vous may be singular (formal situation) or plural depending on the context.

The negation is formed by placing ne  … pas around the conjugated verb, which in this case, is the auxiliary être:

Je ne suis pas allé(e), Tu n‘es pas allé(e), etc.

verbs that can use avoir OR être

Transitive verbs, by definition, have an object, either a direct object or an indirect object. Intransitive verbs never have objects.  Click HERE to read more about transitive and intransitive verbs.

A few of these verbs that use être as an auxiliary (monter, descendre, sortir, passer, retourner) may sometimes take a direct object, thus becoming transitive. When they do, the auxiliary used is avoir instead of être. Example:

It is important to note that many intransitive verbs of movement, like courir and marcher, do not use être but avoir.

irregular past particples

Note that many verbs, however, have irregular past participles. The past participles of many common irregular verbs which have avoir as an auxiliary are listed below.

The past participles of the verbs that use être as an auxiliary are regular except for the following: