French Grammar Introduction: Passé Composé

French Grammar

Passé Composé

Commands

Tense

Passive

Subjunctive

Credits

Passé Composé

The passé composé is usually formed by following the present tense of avoir with a past participle.

	j'ai aimé	I loved
	tu as aimé	you loved
	il/elle a aimé	he/she loved
	nous avons aimé	We loved
	vous avez aimé	You loved
	ils/elles ont aimé	They loved

There is a select group of verbs for which the passe compose is formed with être as opposed to avoir.

arriver	arrivé	to arrive
aller	allé	to go
descendre	descendu	to descend
entrer	entré	to enter
monter	monté	to climb
morir	mort	to die
naître	né	to be born

partir	parti	to leave
rester	resté	to remain
retourner	retourné	to return
sortir	sorti	to exit
tomber	tombé	to fall
venir	venu	to come

Actually for these verbs être is used only when it is intransitive- that is to say they don't take objects.

	Elle est retournée.	She returned.
	Elle a retourné le livre.	She returned the book.

When être is used the past participle always agrees with the subject in the same way as an adjective agrees with a noun. Verbs based on the above verbs such as devenir, revenir, and rentrer also use être when used intransitively.

	Colette est devenue une écrivain extraordinaire.
	Colette became a remarkable writer.

When avoir is used, the past participle agrees only with preceding direct objects (see PDO agreement).

When the subject and object of a verb have a reflexive relationship - the subject does something to itself (see pronomials (reflexives), the auxiliary verb is always être.

	Marie s'est réveillée à six heures.	Marie woke up at six o'clock.
	Marie a réveillé les enfants à six heures.	Marie woke up the children at six o'clock.