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Lesson 1: Passé Composé
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Regular verbs
Irregular verbs

Formation of Passé composé

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The Passé composé (compound past) is made up of two parts:
1) the auxiliary
2) the past participle

1. the auxiliary - the present tense of either TO HAVE (AVOIR) or TO BE (ETRE).

TO HAVE (AVOIR) is used in the Passé composé of most verbs.

TO BE (ETRE) is used in the Passé composé of:

intransitive verbs of motion
pronominal verbs (reflexive and reciprocal)

2. the past participle

As for the past participles of verbs, they can be found in any verb conjugation table.

The past participles of some verbs called REGULAR are easier to remember.

When it comes to IRREGULAR verbs, past participles must simply be learned.

Examples:

PARLER is used with the auxiliary: to have (AVOIR).

The past participle of PARLER (To speak) is PARLÉ.

J'ai parlé à mon copain Nous avons parlé à nos copains
Tu as parlé à ton copain Vous avez parlé à vos copains
Il/Elle a parlé à son copain Ils/Elles ont parlé à leurs copains


ALLER which is an intransitive verb is used with the auxiliary: to be (ETRE).

The past participle of ALLER (To go) is ALLÉ . Note the agreement of the past participle with the subject.

Je suis allé(e) en France Nous  sommes allé(e)s en France
Tu es allé(e) en France Vous êtes allé(e)(s) en France
Il/Elle est allé/e en France Ils/Elles sont allés/es en France


SE COUCHER (to sleep) which is a reflexive verb is used with the auxiliary: to be (ETRE) .

The past participle of COUCHER is COUCHÉ. Note the agreement of the past participle with the subject.

Je me suis couché(e) tard Nous nous sommes couché(e)s tard
Tu t' es couché(e) tôt Vous vous êtes couché(e)(s) tôt
Il/Elle s' est couché/e à 22 h. Ils/Elles se sont couchés/es à 22h.

For more theory, click on VERBS conjugated with avoir or VERBS conjugated with être in lesson 1. You may proceed now to Regular Verbs. You can also get more information about the Passé composé tense by going to Use of the Passé composé.


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