Passé Composé
The everyday past tense for completed events.
It is built from two parts: the present tense of avoir or être (the auxiliary verb) followed by a past participle.
Most verbs use avoir — a few use être
With être the participle agrees with the subject, like an adjective: elle est allée, ils sont allés, elles sont allées.
| aller | allé | to go |
| arriver | arrivé | to arrive |
| descendre | descendu | to go down |
| entrer | entré | to enter |
| monter | monté | to go up |
| mourir | mort | to die |
| naître | né | to be born |
| partir | parti | to leave |
| passer | passé | to pass by |
| rester | resté | to stay |
| retourner | retourné | to return |
| sortir | sorti | to go out |
| tomber | tombé | to fall |
| venir | venu | to come |
Also their relatives: devenir, revenir, rentrer, remonter… Most are about coming, going, or a change of state.
Forming the past participle
| -er verbs → -é | parler → parlé |
| -ir verbs → -i | finir → fini |
| -re verbs → -u | vendre → vendu |
Many common verbs have irregular participles — these are worth learning by heart:
More on regular and irregular past participles.
Avoir or être?
The être verbs only take être when they have no direct object. Several of them — monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, retourner, passer — switch to avoir when they do:
- Elle est retournée à Paris.She returned to Paris.
- Elle a retourné le livre.She returned the book.
- Nous sommes montés au Sacré-Cœur.We went up to the Sacré-Cœur.
- Nous avons monté le piano.We carried the piano up.
Reflexive (pronominal) verbs always take être — see pronominals:
- Marie s’est réveillée à six heures.Marie woke up at six o'clock.
- Marie a réveillé les enfants à six heures.Marie woke the children up at six o'clock.
Agreement
With être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, the way an adjective does:
- Colette est devenue une écrivaine extraordinaire.Colette became a remarkable writer.
With avoir, the participle normally stays the same. It only agrees with a direct object placed before the verb — see preceding direct object agreement.