The passé composé is a tense used to express an action or a state that happened in the past. We call it “composé” because it’s composed of two parts: An auxiliary, either the auxiliary “être” to be or the auxiliary “avoir” to have and a past participle of a verb. In this part we will only tackle the passé composé of the verbs of the first group that require the auxiliary “avoir”.
Remember: All verbs of the first group end in “er”.
For example: penser, prêter, danser, chanter, marcher, etc...
Let’s explore the following example:
Julie a mangé deux pommes.
Julie ate two apples.
The verb in this sentence is “a mangé”. As you can see, it is composed of two elements:
“a” which is a form of “avoir” and “mangé” which is the past participle of “manger”.
So to put a verb in the passé composé, you will need the auxiliary “avoir” in the present simple and the past participle of the verb.
The auxiliary “avoir” au présent:
To find the the past participle of the verbs of the first group, all you need to do is remove the final “r” and add an accent to “e”.
For example: To find the past participle of the verb “ pleurer” cry, all you need to do is remove the “r” and add an accent to “e” and you will obtain “pleuré”.
J’ai pleuré toute la nuit.
I cried all night.
Nous avons demandé à parler au patron.
We asked to speak to the boss.
Avez-vous terminé votre travail?
Did you finish your work?
Il n’a pas bougé ses jambes pendant une heure.
He didn’t move his legs for an hour.
Elles n’ont pas regardé la télé hier.
They didn’t watch TV yesterday.
Tu n’as pas expliqué pourquoi tu as démissioné.
You didn’t explain why you resigned.
J’ai beaucoup travaillé aujourd’hui.
I worked a lot today.
Vous avez bien joué hier.
You played well yesterday.
Tu as souvent encouragé tes élèves à parler en français.
You often encouraged your students to speak French.
Il n’a pas encore parlé de son projet.
He hasn’t talked yet about his project.
Remember: All verbs of the first group end in “er”.
For example: penser, prêter, danser, chanter, marcher, etc...
Let’s explore the following example:
Julie a mangé deux pommes.
Julie ate two apples.
The verb in this sentence is “a mangé”. As you can see, it is composed of two elements:
“a” which is a form of “avoir” and “mangé” which is the past participle of “manger”.
So to put a verb in the passé composé, you will need the auxiliary “avoir” in the present simple and the past participle of the verb.
The auxiliary “avoir” au présent:
| Je | J’ai |
| Tu | as |
| Il /elle/ on | a |
| Nous | avons |
| Vous | avez |
| Ils/elles | ont |
To find the the past participle of the verbs of the first group, all you need to do is remove the final “r” and add an accent to “e”.
For example: To find the past participle of the verb “ pleurer” cry, all you need to do is remove the “r” and add an accent to “e” and you will obtain “pleuré”.
J’ai pleuré toute la nuit.
I cried all night.
Nous avons demandé à parler au patron.
We asked to speak to the boss.
Avez-vous terminé votre travail?
Did you finish your work?
The passé composé in the negative form:
For example:Il n’a pas bougé ses jambes pendant une heure.
He didn’t move his legs for an hour.
Elles n’ont pas regardé la télé hier.
They didn’t watch TV yesterday.
Tu n’as pas expliqué pourquoi tu as démissioné.
You didn’t explain why you resigned.
Use of adverbs with the passé composé:
When you need to use certains adverbs such as: beaucoup, bien, jamais, souvent, déjà, rarement, trop, etc.. you have to put the adverb between the auxiliary and the past participle.J’ai beaucoup travaillé aujourd’hui.
I worked a lot today.
Vous avez bien joué hier.
You played well yesterday.
Tu as souvent encouragé tes élèves à parler en français.
You often encouraged your students to speak French.
Il n’a pas encore parlé de son projet.
He hasn’t talked yet about his project.