French Passé Composé

The passé composé is the default French past tense. It covers both "I did X" and "I have done X" in English. The shape is always: auxiliary ( or ) + past participle.

J' . (I spoke / I have spoken.)
. (We ate / We have eaten.)
. (She left / She has left.)

The two auxiliaries

The main puzzle of the passé composé is which auxiliary the verb takes.

is the default. Most verbs use it.

is used in two specific cases:

A closed set of about fifteen intransitive verbs of movement or state.
All reflexive verbs (se laver, se lever, s'appeler, etc.).

The être set: MRS VANDERTRAMP

A mnemonic. Each letter is the start of a verb in the closed set.

Verb	Meaning	Past participle
	to die
	to return
	to go out
	to come
	to arrive	arrivé
	to be born
	to go down
	to enter
	to come home
	to fall
	to stay
	to go
	to go up
	to leave
	to pass by

Plus compounds: (to become), (to come back), (to leave again). These are the only verbs that take être as their everyday auxiliary. Everything else uses avoir.

Reflexives

All reflexive verbs use être in compound tenses, regardless of meaning.

me . (I got up.)
s' . (She washed.)
couchés. (We went to bed.)

The reflexive pronoun stays before the auxiliary. The past participle agrees - see below.

The past participle

Three regular patterns, by verb ending.

Ending	Drop and add	Example
-er	-er + é	->
-ir cluster	-ir + i	->
-re cluster	-re + u	->

The three irregulars you must memorise from day one:

Verb	Past participle	Meaning
		been
		had
		done / made

Other common irregulars that come up in the first month: -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> , -> couru, -> , -> .

Conjugation of avoir + past participle

(to speak) in the passé composé:

Subject	Form
	j'
	as
/ / on	a


/

The participle doesn't change. Avoir is conjugated; stays the same for every subject.

Conjugation of être + past participle

(to go) in the passé composé. With être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, like an adjective.

Subject	Form
(masc)
(fem)
(masc)
(fem)


on	on
(masc)
(fem / mixed)
(masc sg)
(fem sg)
(masc pl)
(fem pl)

The agreement is the same as any adjective: +e for feminine, +s for plural, +es for feminine plural.

The avoir agreement rule (flagged for attention)

With , the past participle normally doesn't agree with anything. J' - no agreement on mangé.

But: when a direct object goes before the verb (in the form of an object pronoun, a relative pronoun, or a question word), the past participle agrees with that preceding direct object.

J' . (no agreement - object after verb)
l' . (agreement - "la" pronoun before verb, feminine singular)
j' . (agreement - "les pommes" precedes the verb via "que")

This rule is real but unevenly enforced in spoken French. For Foundation tier, recognise it and don't drill it. It matters in writing.

Negation in the passé composé

goes before the auxiliary, after it. The participle stays at the end.

n' . (I didn't eat.)
n' . (She didn't leave.)
couchés . (We didn't go to bed late.)

Worked examples

, j' film cinéma. (Yesterday I saw a film at the cinema.)
née à Lyon 1995. (Marie was born in Lyon in 1995.)
restaurant. (We ate in a good restaurant.)
arrivés . (They arrived late.)
s' . (She got up early this morning.)
J' devoirs . (I did my homework and I went out with my friends.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Defaulting to avoir for every verb: j' cinéma is wrong, it's cinéma. Aller is in the être set. Forgetting the agreement with être: is wrong, it's . And using the wrong irregular participle - j' faisi, j' , j' avoi are all wrong; the right forms are j' , j' , j' .

The imparfait page covers the other Foundation-tier past tense.
The passé composé vs imparfait page covers the decision rules side by side.
The reflexive verbs page covers the present-tense use of reflexives that passé composé extends.
The intermediate French grammar page covers Higher-tier irregular participles and the full agreement system.

Practise: test yourself

Fill in the blank

0/10

Complete each passé composé with the correct past participle. Watch the auxiliary - être verbs agree with the subject.

Hier, j'ai un bon film. (voir, irregular)
Nous avons à la maison. (manger)
Elle est tôt ce matin. (aller, être - feminine agreement)
J'ai le travail. (faire, irregular)
Ils sont tard. (arriver, être - masculine plural agreement)
Tu as avec ton ami. (parler)
Marie est à Lyon. (naître, être - feminine agreement)
Vous avez la vérité. (dire, irregular)
Elle s'est tôt. (se lever, reflexive être - feminine agreement)
Nous avons une lettre. (prendre, irregular)

Translation drill

0/8

Translate each sentence into French using the passé composé.

I spoke to my friend.
She left.
We ate at home.
They arrived late.
Yesterday I saw a film.
He came home early.
I got up early.
You took the book.

Pick the right one

0/10

Choose the auxiliary the verb takes in the passé composé: avoir or être.

manger (to eat)
aller (to go)
parler (to speak)
partir (to leave)
se lever (to get up)
voir (to see)
arriver (to arrive)
prendre (to take)
rester (to stay)
faire (to do)

Frequently asked questions

When does a French verb use être instead of avoir in the passé composé?

For two cases. First, a closed set of about fifteen intransitive verbs of movement and state - the MRS VANDERTRAMP mnemonic: aller, venir, arriver, partir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, entrer, sortir, retourner, rester, tomber, devenir, passer (and their compounds revenir, repartir, rentrer). Every other intransitive verb takes avoir. Second, all reflexive verbs - se laver, se lever, s'appeler - use être in compound tenses, regardless of their meaning. When the auxiliary is être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, like an adjective.

How do you form the French past participle?

Three regular patterns. -er verbs drop -er and add -é: parler -> parlé, manger -> mangé. -ir verbs (the choisir / finir cluster) drop -ir and add -i: finir -> fini, choisir -> choisi. -re verbs drop -re and add -u: attendre -> attendu, vendre -> vendu. Three irregulars at Foundation tier: être -> été (been), avoir -> eu (had), faire -> fait (done / made). A handful of further irregulars come up constantly: voir -> vu, dire -> dit, prendre -> pris, mettre -> mis, écrire -> écrit.