TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > French > Perfect Tense
The Perfect Tense (Le Passé Composé)
Avoir
Most verbs take the form of "avoir":
- j’ai + past participle
- tu as + past participle
- il/elle/on a + past participle
- nous avons + past participle
- vous avez + past participle
- ils/elles ont + past participle
Forming the past participle
The past participle is formed by removing the ending from the nous form of the verb in the present tense (forming the stem of the verb), and adding "é" (for -er verbs), "i" (for -ir verbs), or "u" (for -re verbs).
être
Certain verbs, however, use "être":
- je suis + past participle
- tu es + past participle
- il/elle/on est + past participle
- nous sommes + past participle
- vous êtes + past participle
- ils/elles sont + past participle
Verbs which take être as the auxiliary verb
- Mourir (past participle = mort)
- Sortir
- Partir
- Venir
- Aller
- Naître (past participle = né)
- Descendre
- Entrer
- Retourner
- Tomber
- Rester
- Arriver
- Monter
- Passer
(verbs which end in the above also take être, such as devenir, rentrer).
NB. The past participle must agree when the auxiliary verb takes être. In addition, all reflexive verbs take être, and must agree.
Reflexive verbs
The format for reflexive verbs in the perfect tense is: personal pronoun (je, tu, il/elle/on, nous, vous, ils/elles) + reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se) + être + past participle.
'e.g. je me suis lavé
Agreements
- masculine - no change
- feminine - add “e”
- masculine plural - add “s”
- feminine plural - add “es”
The only exception is "mourir", the past participle of which is mort in all cases. It is invariable.
Irregular past participles
Some verbs have irregular past participles:
- avoir: eu
- boire: bu
- connâitre: connu
- croire: cru
- devoir: du
- dire: dit
- écrire: écrit
- être: été
- falloir: fallu
- faire: fait
- lire: lu
- mettre: mis
- ouvrir: ouvert
- pleuvoir: plu
- prendre: pris (also, Comprendre: compris and Apprendre: appris)
- pouvoir: pu
- recevoir: reçu
- rire: ri
- savoir: su
- suivre: suivi
- tenir: tenu
- vivre: vécu
- voir: vu
- vouloir: voulou
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