Le passé composé: the Past Tense in French

What is the passé composé?

The passé composé is the most important past tense in French. It corresponds to the English simple past (I did, I saw…) or sometimes the present perfect (I’ve done, I’ve seen…).

The passé composé talks about actions that were completed in the past and emphasises their consequences in the present.

In spoken language, the passé composé is always used instead of the passé simple. We form the passé composé using the auxiliary verbs avoir or être followed by the past participle (le participe passé) of the verb.

Learn everything you need to know about the French passé composé with Lingolia’s quick and easy examples, then put your knowledge to the test in the free exercises below.

Contents

Hier, Michel a rangé son bureau.

Il a décidé de ranger son bureau chaque semaine.

When to use the passé composé in French

We use the passé composé to talk about one-time, completed actions that took place in the past. This tense places the emphasis on the result or consequences of the action.

Examples:
Hier, Michel a rangé son bureau.Yesterday, Michael tidied up his office.
one-time action in the past
Il a décidé de ranger son bureau chaque semaine.He has decided to clean his office every week.
one-time past action with a connection to the present: he doesn’t want to his office to be untidy anymore.

Learners of French often find it difficult to know when to use the passé composé and when to use the imperfect tense. Go to our page dedicated to the difference between the imparfait and passé composé to learn when to use which tense, then test yourself in the free exercises.

How to conjugate the passé composé

To conjugate the passé composé we use the present tense of avoir or être as an auxiliary verb, followed by the past participle (participe passé) of the main verb.

Person avoir être
1st person singular (I) j’ai

aimé

fini

vendu

 je suis

parti

partie

partis

parties
2nd person singular (you) tu as tu es
3rd person singular (he/she/it) il/elle/on a il/elle/on est
1st person plural (we) nous avons nous sommes
2nd person plural (you) vous avez vous êtes
3rd person plural (they) ils/elles ont ils/elles sont

Participe passé: the past participle

For regular er/ir/re verbs, the past participle is formed as follows:

  • If the infinitive ends in -er, the participle ends in é
    Example:
    aimer – aimélike – liked
  • If the infinitive ends in -ir, the participle ends in i
    Example:
    finir – finifinish – finished
  • If the infinitive ends in -re, the participle ends in u
    Example:
    vendre – vendusell – sold

For the irregular verbs, however, we have to look up the past participle form in the list of irregular verbs or check the verb conjugator – or simply learn the forms by heart.

Avoir or être?

For most verbs we construct the passé composé with avoir, however être is used as the auxiliary verb in the following cases:

Example:
se lever → Je me suis levé.to get up → I got up.
  • with the following 16 verbs of movement and change of state:
    naître/mourirto be born/to die, aller/venirto go/to come, monter/descendreto go up/to go down, arriver/partirto arrive/to leave, entrer/sortirto enter/to go out, apparaîtreto appear, devenirto become, passerto pass, resterto stay, retournerto return, tomberto fall
    Example:
    Luc est né un mardi.Luc was born on a Tuesday.
  • and their derivatives:
    → revenirto come back, rentrerto return (home), remonterto go back up, redescendreto go back down, repartirto leave again, etc.
    Example:
    Nous sommes repartis le lendemain.We left the next day.

Important

If the verbs descendreto go down, (r)entrerto enter, (re)monterto go (back) up, retournerto go back, and sortirto leave are used with a direct object, we use the auxiliary verb avoir. This often implies a change in meaning.

Examples:
À quelle heure es-tu sorti ce matin ?What time did you go out this morning?
no direct object, we use the auxiliary être
As-tu sorti les carottes du frigo hier soir ?Did you take the carrots out of the fridge last night?
take out what? les carottes are the direct object, we use the auxiliary avoir

For more information on when to use which auxiliary, go to our avoir vs. être page.

Agreement of the participe passé

In some situations, the participe passé has to agree in gender and number with either the subject or direct object of the sentence:

  • when a verb takes être as an auxiliary, the past participle has to agree in gender and number with the subject.
    Examples:
    Il est allé dans son bureau.He went to his office. (subject = masculine singular)
    Elle est allée dans son bureau.She went to her office. (subject = feminine singular)
    Ils sont allés dans leurs bureaux.They went to their offices. (subject = masculine plural)
    Elles sont allées dans leurs bureaux.They (only women) went to their offices. (subject = feminine plural)
  • when a verb takes avoir as an auxiliary, the past participle only agrees in gender and number when there’s a direct object before the verb. The direct object can be:
    • a noun
      Example:
      La lettre qu’elle a écrite.The letter that she wrote. (direct object = feminine singular)
      la lettre is the direct object and comes before the verb (What did she write? → She wrote the letter.)
    • a personal pronoun (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les)
      Examples:
      Il a rangé son bureau. → Il l’a rangé.He cleaned up his office. → He cleaned it up. (direct object = masculine singular)
      Il a rangé sa chambre. → Il l’a rangée.He cleaned up his room.→ He cleaned it up. (direct object = feminine singular)
      Il a rangé ses dossiers. → Il les a rangés.He sorted his files. → He sorted them. (direct object = masculine plural)
      Il a rangé ses cartes de visite. → Il les a rangées.He sorted his business cards.→ He sorted them. (direct object = feminine plural)
  • the past participle also has to agree when a verb is reflexive (reflexive verbs always take être in the passé composé). In most cases, the participle agrees with the subject.
    Example:
    Nous nous sommes levés très tôt.We got up very early. (subject = masculine plural)

    However, there’s no agreement when a direct object comes after the reflexive verb.

    Example:
    Elle s’est lavé les mains.She washed her hands.
    les mains are the direct object of lavé, no agreement is needed
    → but: Elle s’est lavée.She washed herself.
    there’s no direct object, so agreement is needed
    Although it’s reflexive, the past participle of the verb se rendre compte (to realise) doesn’t agree with the subject of the sentence. This is because the word compte acts as a direct object.
    Example:
    Elle s’est rendu compte de son erreur.She realised her mistake.

Important

Remember: the past participle never agrees with an indirect object.

Example:
Marie et Laurent se sont téléphoné.Marie and Laurent phoned each other.
se = indirect object (téléphoner à qui ? → “to whom?”)

For these verbs, se is always an indirect object: se téléphonerto call each other, se parlerto talk to each other, se mentirto lie to each other, se plaire (complaire/déplaire)to like each other, se sourireto smile at each other, se rireto laugh at each other, se nuireto hurt each other, se succéderto succeed each other, se suffireto be enough, se ressemblerto look like each other, s’en vouloirto be annoyed with each other.

With these verbs, se means “to each other”. The action goes to the other person, not on the other person. So se is an indirect object and the past participle never changes.

How to form the negative with the passé composé

In negative sentences with the passé composé, the auxiliary verb avoir or être is enclosed by the two parts of the negation (ne…pas, ne…jamais, etc.).

Examples:
J’ai rigolé. → Je n’ai pas rigolé.I didn’t laugh.
Je suis parti.→ Je ne suis pas parti.I didn’t not leave.

With pronominal verbs, negation is formed in a similar way. In the passé composé, the negation surrounds the reflexive pronoun and the auxiliary verb.

Example:
Je ne me suis pas trompé dans mon calcul.I didn’t make a mistake in my calculation.

Go to our page on negation in French for more information and lots of practice exercises.