How do you form the passé composé in French?
Short answer
The passé composé is made of two parts: the present tense of avoir or être, followed by the past participle of the main verb. Most verbs use avoir: j'ai mangé (I ate). Verbs of movement and all reflexive verbs use être, and their past participle agrees with the subject: elle est allée (she went).
Step by step
- Choose the auxiliary: avoir for most verbs, être for verbs like aller, venir, partir, arriver, naître, mourir and all reflexive verbs.
- Put the auxiliary in the present tense: j'ai, tu as, il a... or je suis, tu es, il est...
- Form the past participle: -er verbs end in é (parler, parlé), -ir verbs in i (finir, fini), -re verbs in u (vendre, vendu).
- With être, add -e for feminine and -s for plural: nous sommes partis, elles sont parties.
Worked example
Three examples
- J'ai regardé un film. (I watched a film.)
- Nous sommes arrivés à huit heures. (We arrived at eight.)
- Elle s'est levée tôt. (She got up early.)
Common mistakes
- Using avoir with être verbs: j'ai allé instead of je suis allé.
- Forgetting agreement with être verbs.
- Getting irregular participles wrong. Learn the common ones: fait, eu, été, pris, vu, dit, écrit.
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