Passé Composé avec Etre ou Avoir

Ted Raymer

Passé Composé

• Passé composé is one of the French past tenses

• It is formed by combining the conjugated form of either “être” or “avoir” with the past participle of a verb

• For regularly conjugated past participles:

– -ER verbs: change “er” to “é”

– -IR verbs: change “ir” to “i”

– -RE verbs: change “re” to “u”

• The past tenses of some verbs are formed irregularly, and must be memorized separately

Premier

• Check if the verb is Reflexive

• If it is, use “être” and go to the final step

• If it isn’t, go to step two

• For example: Je me suis levé à six heures.

Deuxième

• Check to see if it is on the list (on the next slide)

• “Dr. & Mrs. Vandertrampp”

• If it is, go to step three

• If it is not, use “avoir”

• Examples:– J’ai raté le bus. (Not on the list)

– Je suis sorti avec mes copains. (On the list)

List of Verbs that use Etre

• D: Devenir Devenu To become

• R: Rester Resté To stay

• M: Monter Monté To go up, to climb

• R: Retourner Retourné To return, to go back

• S: Sortir Sorti To go out

• V: Venir Venu To come

• A: Aller Allé To go

• N: Naître Né To be born

• D: Descendre Descendu To go down, to get off

• E: Entrer Entré To enter

• R: Rentrer Rentré To return, to go home

• T: Tomber Tombé To fall

• R: Revenir Revenu To come back

• A: Arriver Arrivé To arrive

• M: Mourir Mort To die

• P: Partir Parti To leave

• P: Passer Passé To pass by

Troisième

• Check to see if the verb has an object after it

• If it does, use avoir

• If it doesn’t use être and proceed to step four

• Example:– Le prof a rentré les interros. (“les interros” is an object)

– Il est né hier.

Finalement

• If you are using “être,” you have to change the verb so that it agrees with the subject

• If the subject is feminine, add an “e” to the end of the verb

• If it is plural, add an “s” to the end

• For feminine plural subjects, add an “es” to the end

• Examples:– Elle est allée au cinéma.

– Ils ne sont pas venus ce matin.

– Elles sont entrées le châteaux.