Le passé composé: the past tense in French

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.

Example:

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 be so 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 in French

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.

In negative sentences, the past participle comes after the second part of the negation (pas).

Example:

J’ai rigolé. → Je n’ai pas rigolé.I laughed.→ I didn’t laugh.
Je suis parti.→ Je ne suis pas parti. I left.→ I didn’t leave.

For reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun comes after the first part of the negation (ne) and before the auxiliary verb (avoir/être).

Example:

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

To see the conjugation of any French verb in the passé composé go to our verb conjugator.

Participe passé: the French 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 – aimé

• If the infinitive ends in -ir, the participle ends in i

  Example:

  finir – fini

• If the infinitive ends in -re, the participle ends in u
  

  Example:

  vendre - vendu

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?

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

• with reflexive verbs

Example:

Je me suis trompé dans mon calcul.I’ve made a mistake in my calculations.

• with the following verbs of movement: naître/mourirbe born/die, aller/venirgo/come, monter/descendrego up/go down, arriver/partirarrive/leave, entrer/sortirenter/go out, apparaîtreappear, resterstay, retournerreturn, tomberfall and their related forms such as: revenircome back, rentrergo back in, remontergo back up, redescendrego back down, repartirleave again.

Example:

Je suis arrivé à la gare.I arrived at the station.

Note: we use avoir when descendre, (r)entrer, (re)monter, retourner and sortir are followed by a direct object. In this case, the meaning of the verb often changes.

Example:

À quelle heure es-tu sorti ce matin?What time did you leave this morning?

sortir = leave

but: As-tu sorti les carottes du frigo hier soir?Did you take the carrots out of the fridge yesterday evening?

sortir = take out

Agreement of the participe passé

For some verbs, the participe passé has to agree in gender and number with either the subject or the object of the sentence. This agreement is necessary in the following situations:

• When a verb takes être as an auxiliary, the participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.

  Example:

  Il est allé dans son bureau.He went to his office.
  Elle est allée dans son bureau.She went to her office.
  Ils sont allés dans leurs bureaux.They went to their offices.
  Elles sont allées dans leurs bureaux.They (only women) went to their offices.

• For verbs that take avoir in the passé composé, the participle only agrees in gender and number with a direct object that comes before the verb. This direct object can take three possible forms: a personal pronoun (me, te, le, la, nous, vous, les), the relative pronoun que, or a noun placed before the verb (usually in questions and exclamations).

  Example:

  Il a rangé son bureau. → Il l'a rangé.He cleaned up his office. → He cleaned it (Fr. masc. sing.) up.
  Il a rangé sa chambre. → Il l'a rangée.He cleaned up his room.→ He cleaned it (Fr. fem. sing.) up.
  Il a rangé ses dossiers. → Il les a rangés.He sorted his files. → He sorted them (Fr. masc. plural).
  Il a rangé ses cartes de visite. → Il les a rangées.He sorted his business cards.→ He sorted them (Fr. fem. plural).

• In the case of reflexive verbs (which always take être as their auxiliary in the passé composé), the participle generally agrees with the subject.

  Example:

  Nous nous sommes levés très tôt.We got up very early.

  The exception is when the direct object comes after the reflexive verb. In this case, the past participle does not agree.
  

  Example:

  Elle s’est lavé les mains.She washed her hands.

  → but: Elle s’est lavée.

  Remember: the participe passé never agrees with an indirect object.
  

  Example:

  Marie et Laurent se sont téléphoné.Marie and Laurent called each other on the phone.

  → se = indirect object

  The participe passé does not agree with the subject of the following verbs: 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. This is because the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object. It is used in the sense of “each other” for these verbs.