The (; ) is a
past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
in the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
. It is used to express an action that has been finished completely or incompletely at the time of speech, or at some (possibly unknown) time in the past. It originally corresponded in function to the English
present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and Perfect (grammar), perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has consequence in present. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to r ...
, but now there is a tendency to use it for all completed actions in the past as the equivalent of the
simple past
The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular E ...
. Its current usage corresponds fairly closely to that of the
Latin perfect tense. It is formed using an
auxiliary verb
An auxiliary verb ( abbreviated ) is a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it occurs, so as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. Auxiliary verbs usually accompany an infinitive verb or ...
and the
past participle
In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
of a
verb
A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...
.
In British teaching of French, the is usually known as the ''
perfect tense''.
Conjugation
The ''passé composé'' is formed by the auxiliary verb, usually the ''avoir'' auxiliary, followed by the
past participle
In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
.
The construction is parallel to that of the
present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and Perfect (grammar), perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has consequence in present. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to r ...
(there is no difference in French between
perfect and non-perfect forms - although there is an important difference in usage between the perfect tense and the imperfect tense).
The ''passé composé'' is usually translated into English as a simple past tense, "I saw", or as a present perfect would be, "I have seen". It could also be translated as emphatic past tense, "I did see".
* ''J'ai vu quelque chose'' (I saw something / I have seen something)
* ''Tu as parlé de quelque chose'' (You spoke of something / you have spoken of something)
* ''Le garçon est sorti'' (The boy has gone out / the boy went out / the boy is out)
The auxiliary may actually be used similarly in any tense, leading to the French compound tenses.
Auxiliary ''avoir''
The auxiliary verb is typically ''avoir'' 'to have', but is sometimes ''être'' 'to be' (see below).
This is the conjugation of ''avoir'', with a past participle:
* ''j’ai vu'' (I saw)
* ''nous avons vu'' (we saw)
* ''tu as vu'' (you saw)
* ''vous avez vu'' (you saw)
* ''il/elle/on a vu'' (he/she/one/it saw)
* ''ils/elles ont vu'' (they (m)/they (f) saw)
Auxiliary ''être''
The verbs that use ''être'' as an auxiliary verb are
intransitive verbs that usually indicate motion or change of state.
Since some of these verbs can be used as a
transitive verb
A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in ''Amadeus enjoys music''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in ''Beatrice arose ...
as well, they will instead take ''avoir'' as an auxiliary in those instances. For example:
* ''Il est sorti'' (he went out / he has gone out / he is out)
* ''Il a sorti un outil pour le réparer'' (he took out a tool to repair it
omething else
''Sortir'', ''monter'', ''descendre'', ''entrer'', ''retourner'', and ''passer'' all have transitive and intransitive uses.
This is the conjugation of ''être'', with a past participle:
* ''je'' suis ''mort(e)'' (I died, I am dead)
* ''nous'' sommes ''mort(e)s'' (we died, we are dead)
* ''tu'' es ''mort(e)'' (you died, you are dead)
* ''vous'' êtes ''mort(e)s'' (you died, you are dead)
* ''il/elle/on'' est ''mort(e)'' (he/she/one/it died, he/she/it is dead)
* ''ils/elles'' sont ''mort(e)s'' (they died, they are dead)
The following is a list of verbs that use ''être'' (for intransitive usage) as their auxiliary verbs in ''passé composé'':
* Devenir – to become – ''(être) devenu(e)(s)''
* Revenir – to come back – ''(être) revenu(e)(s)''
* Monter – to go up – ''(être) monté(e)(s)''
* Rester – to stay – ''(être) resté(e)(s)''
* Sortir – to exit – ''(être) sorti(e)(s)''
* Venir – to come – ''(être) venu(e)(s)''
* Aller – to go – ''(être) allé(e)(s)''
* Naître – to be born – ''(être) né(e)(s)''
* Descendre – to descend – ''(être) descendu(e)(s)''
* Entrer – to enter – ''(être) entré(e)(s)''
* Retourner – to return – ''(être) retourné(e)(s)''
* Tomber – to fall – ''(être) tombé(e)(s)''
* Rentrer – to re-enter – ''(être) rentré(e)(s)''
* Arriver – to arrive – ''(être) arrivé(e)(s)''
* Mourir – to die – ''(être) mort(e)(s)''
* Partir – to leave – ''(être) parti(e)(s)''
The above have been remembered using the
mnemonic
A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember.
It makes use of e ...
acronym
An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...
DR and MRS VANDERTRAMP. (Other teaching methods have been used. An alternative version of the mnemonic acronym adds a final "P" (as ...TRAMPP), to account for "passer" in the following section of "additional" être-conjugated verbs. Language evolution with time poses a challenge for this approach.)
In addition to these, at least two other verbs are conjugated with être:
* Décéder – to die – ''(être) décédé(e)(s)''
* Passer – to spend/pass– ''(être) passé(e)(s)'' (although it is only conjugated with ''être'' when describing movement)
Reflexive forms
In addition to the above verbs, all
reflexive/pronominal verbs use ''être'' as their auxiliary verb. A reflexive/pronominal verb is one that relates back to the speaker, either as an object e.g. ''Je me suis trompé'' 'I'm mistaken, I made a mistake' (= ''*j'ai trompé moi-même'', literally 'I fooled myself'), or as a dative form e.g. ''Je me suis donné du temps'' (= ''*j'ai donné du temps à moi-même'', 'I gave myself some time').
Formation of French past participles
To form the past participle for first-group verbs (-ER verbs) and ''aller'' too, drop the ''-er'' and add -é.
parler (to speak) - er + é = parlé (spoken)
arriver (to arrive) - er + é = arrivé (arrived)
manger (to eat) - er + é = mangé (eaten)
To form the past participle for second-group verbs (-IR verbs with -ISSANT gerund), drop the ''-ir'' and add -i.
finir (to finish) - ir + i = fini (finished)
choisir (to choose) - ir + i = choisi (chosen)
grandir (to grow up) - ir + i = grandi (grown up)
To form the past participle for third-group verbs (-RE verbs), drop the ''-re'' and add -u.
pendre (to hang) - re + u = pendu (hung or sometimes hanged)
vendre (to sell) - re + u = vendu (sold)
entendre (to hear) - re + u = entendu (heard)
attendre (to wait) - re + u = attendu (waited)
* The irregular past participles (which are often found with the third group verbs) must be memorized separately, of which the following are a few:
acquérir: acquis (acquired)
apprendre: appris (learnt/learned)
atteindre: atteint (attained)
avoir: eu (had)
boire: bu (drunk/drunken)
comprendre: compris (understood)
conduire: conduit (driven)
connaître: connu (known)
construire: construit (constructed)
courir: couru (run)
couvrir: couvert (covered)
craindre: craint (feared)
croire: cru (believed)
décevoir: déçu (disappointed)
découvrir: découvert (discovered)
devoir: dû (had to)
dire: dit (said)
écrire: écrit (written)
être: été (been)
faire: fait (done)
instruire: instruit (prepared)
joindre: joint (joined)
lire: lu (read)
mettre: mis (put, placed)
offrir: offert (offered)
ouvrir: ouvert (opened)
paraître: paru (resembled)
peindre: peint (painted)
pouvoir: pu (been able to)
prendre: pris (taken)
produire: produit (produced)
recevoir: reçu (received)
rire: ri (laughed)
savoir: su (known)
souffrir: souffert (hurt)
surprendre: surpris (surprised)
suivre: suivi (followed)
tenir: tenu (held, holden)
venir: venu (come)
vivre: vécu (lived)
voir: vu (seen)
vouloir: voulu (wanted)
Agreement between participle and object
The use of the past participle in compound tenses in French is complicated by occasional "
agreement" with the object of the action.
In French, agreement is accomplished by adding an -e to the end of the past participle if the
grammatical gender
In linguistics, a grammatical gender system is a specific form of a noun class system, where nouns are assigned to gender categories that are often not related to the real-world qualities of the entities denoted by those nouns. In languages wit ...
of the
subject or
direct object
In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...
in question is feminine and an -s if it is
plural
In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...
. (Note that for verbs of the first and second group, the past participle ends with a
vowel
A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...
, thus the masculine and feminine, singular and plural forms are all pronounced the same. Within the third-group verbs, one can find past participles ending with a mute consonant, such as ''mis'' and ''fait'', and those do change pronunciation.)
* The past participle ''almost'' always agrees with the subject when the auxiliary verb is ''être'' (beware, though, that
pronominal verbs may produce tricky cases), or when the past participle is used as an adjective (which is essentially the same case).
* When the auxiliary verb is ''avoir'', the past participle must agree with the
direct object
In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...
if the direct object ''precedes'' the past participle in the sentence.
Examples :
* ''Les hommes sont arrivés''. (The men arrived /the men have arrived)
*: NB: agreement, ''s'' is needed in that case, because of the ''être'' auxiliary - the meaning (and construction) is that of a
predicative expression
A predicative expression (or just predicative) is part of a clause predicate, and is an expression that typically follows a copula or linking verb, e.g. ''be'', ''seem'', ''appear'', or that appears as a second complement (object complement) of ...
in that case.
* ''Les filles sont venues''. (The girls came / the girls have come / the girls have arrived)
*: NB: agreement of ''venues'', see above.
* ''Nous nous sommes levé(e)s.'' (We got up, rose / we did rise)
*: NB : an extra ''e'' would be required if ''nous'' refers to a group of females - see above.
* ''J'ai vu la voiture''. (I saw the car / I have seen the car / I did see the car)
* ''Je l'ai vue.'' (I saw it / I have seen it)
*: NB - agreement needed in that case, referring to the car (the object materialized by "'' l' ''" is mentioned before the participle - see
Accord du participe passé en français for details).
* ''Les voitures que j'ai vues étaient rouges.'' (The cars
hat I saw / that I've seenwere red)
*: ''que'' relative to ''Les voitures'', implies that the participle is feminine plural in that case (''les voitures sont vues'').
* ''Où sont mes lunettes ? Où est-ce que je les ai mises ? (Where are my glasses? Where did I put them?)
* ''Voilà l'erreur que j'ai faite.'' (There's the mistake
made/I have made
*: ''que'' relative to ''l'erreur'', feminine singular)
For more information, see
French verbs
In French grammar, verbs are a part of speech. Each verb lexeme has a collection of finite and non-finite forms in its conjugation scheme.
Finite forms depend on grammatical tense and person/number. There are eight simple tense–aspect–m ...
, and .
See also
*
French conjugation
Conjugation is the variation in the endings of verbs (inflections) depending on the person (I, you, we, etc), tense (present, future, etc.) and mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, etc.). Most French verbs are regular and their inflections ...
*
Preterite
The preterite or preterit ( ; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple p ...
*
Perfect (grammar)
The perfect tense or aspect ( abbreviated or ) is a verb form that indicates that an action or circumstance occurred earlier than the time under consideration, often focusing attention on the resulting state rather than on the occurrence itself. ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Passe compose
Grammatical tenses
French grammar