grammar
Le passé composé: How to talk about completed past events.
When you talk about something that happened yesterday, last weekend, or on your last trip, le passé composé is often the tense you need. It is called “composé” because it combines an auxiliary verb with a past participle.
The basic pattern
Form the passé composé with an auxiliary in the present tense, followed by the past participle of the main verb.
Step 1: Most Verbs Use « Avoir »
Most verbs use the present tense of avoir as their auxiliary. For regular verbs, the past participle usually follows one of these patterns:
- -er verbs change to -é (parler ➔ parlé)
- -ir verbs change to -i (finir ➔ fini)
- -re verbs change to -u (vendre ➔ vendu)
« J'ai mangé un croissant ce matin. » (I ate a croissant this morning.)
« Tu as fini tes devoirs ? » (Did you finish your homework?)
« Nous avons vendu notre vieille voiture. » (We sold our old car.)
Step 2: Some verbs use « être »
Many common intransitive verbs of movement or change use être, including aller, venir, arriver, partir, and naître. All pronominal verbs also use être. The choice is not simply “movement versus no movement”: courir and voyager, for example, use avoir.
⚠️ Important Rule for Être: When you use être, the past participle behaves like an adjective. You must add an -e at the end if the subject is feminine, and an -s if the subject is plural!
« Je suis allé au cinéma. » (I went to the cinema - masculine speaker)
« Sophie est allée à Paris. » (Sophie went to Paris - notice the extra feminine "e")
« Ils sont arrivés hier soir. » (They arrived last night - notice the plural "s")
1. Pick the auxiliary: usually avoir; use être with the relevant intransitive and pronominal verbs.
2. Transform your main verb into a past participle (-é, -i, or -u).
3. Do not add extra endings unless you chose être!