Passé Composé Using Avoir

Passé Composé

By Hentie Jordaan

Introduction to Passé Composé (Regular Verbs)

What is the Passé Composé? (Explanation)

• The passé composé is a French past tense used to describe completed actions in the past, e.g:

  • "I ate dinner".

  • "She visited Paris last summer".

Introduction to Passé Composé

It’s made of two parts:

1. A helping verb (avoir or être conjugated in the present tense).

2. A past participle (the verb’s past form).

Example: "Tu as mangé" ("You ate")
Tu = "you" (this is the subject of the sentence)
as = avoir (to have), conjugated to match the subject
mangé = the past participle of "manger" (to eat).

Multiple Choice

What does the passé composé describe?

• Future actions

• Completed actions in the past

• Ongoing actions

Multiple Choice

How many parts does the passé composé have?

• One

• Two

• Three

Multiple Select

Which two helping verbs can be used to create the passé composé?

• Avoir

• Faire

• Aller

• Etre

Multiple Choice

Which of the two helping verbs will we be focusing on in this lesson?

• Avoir

• Être

Step 1: Conjugating Avoir in the Present Tense: (review)

​The passé composé starts with the verb avoir conjugated in the present tense. Remember what that looks like?

• Je ai

• Tu as

• Il/Elle/On a

• Nous avons

• Vous avez

• Ils/Elles ont

This is the first part of the passé composé formula.

Step 2: Add the past participle

The second part of the passé composé is the past participle. For regular verbs, it’s easy to form:

• -er verbs: Replace -er with -é (e.g., manger → mangé).

• -ir verbs: Replace -ir with -i (e.g., finir → fini).

• -re verbs: Replace -re with -u (e.g., vendre → vendu).

So, to form the passé composé, just combine avoir (conjugated in the present tense) + past participle:
Vous avez parlé français.

The Past Participle for regular verb groups:

So:
J’ai mangé une pomme. (I ate an apple).

Tu as fini ton livre. (You finished your book).

Elle a vendu les chausettes. (She sold the socks).

Verb Group	Infinitive	Past Participle
-er	manger	mangé
-ir	finir	fini
-re	vendre	vendu

Multiple Choice

What is the correct form of avoir for je?

• Ai

• As

• Ont

• Avez

Multiple Choice

Conjugating avoir:

Choose the correct form: Il ___ un frère. (He has a brother.)

• A

• As

• Ai

• Avons

Multiple Choice

What is the past participle of parler?

• Parlu

• Parlé

• Parli

• Parlez

Multiple Choice

What is the past participle of choisir?

• Choisi

• Choisé

• Choisu

• Chois

Multiple Choice

Which verb group forms its past participle with -u?

• -er verbs

• -ir vebs

• irregular verbs

• -re verbs

​Putting It Together: Forming the Passé Composé

"Now, combine avoir (conjugated) + the past participle:

• Formula: Subject + Avoir + Past Participle

Example with manger (-er verb):

• Je + ai + mangé = J’ai mangé (I ate).

• Nous + avons + mangé = Nous avons mangé (We ate).

It works the same for -ir and -re verbs!"

• Tu as fini (You finished, -ir verb).

• Ils ont vendu (They sold, -re verb).

Subject → Choose correct avoir form → Add past participle → Passé Composé

Multiple Choice

Conjugate parler for je in the passé composé:

• J’ai parlé

• J’ai parla

• Je parlé

• Je parles

Multiple Choice

Conjugate vendre for elle in the passé composé:

• Elle as vendu

• Elle a vendé

• Elle as vends

• Elle a vendu

Multiple Choice

What is the correct passé composé for tu with attendre?

(attendre = to wait for)

• Tu avoir attendre

• Tu as attendu

• Tu ai attendu

• Tu as attendé

Alright, now let's see if you can translate passé composé sentences!

How did you do?

Did that last one get you?

If not, good job staying alert!

If it did, remember that, without a form of "avoir" before the main verb, it is not the passé composé.

Okay, let's review!

​You have learned:

• The passé composé describes completed past actions.

• It uses avoir (conjugated) + past participle.

• Past participles: -er → -é, -ir → -i, -re → -u.
  

  Verb Group	Example	Past Participle	Passé Composé (je)
  -er	parler	parlé	J’ai parlé
  -ir	finir	fini	J’ai fini
  -re	attendre	attendu	J’ai attendu

Drag and Drop

Reorder the words below to form a correct translation of this simple sentence:
We played.

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Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

nous

avons

joué

Vous

ai

as

jouer

jou

Drag and Drop

Reorder the words below to form a correct translation of the following sentence:
You chose a pencil

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​

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​

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​

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​

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Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

tu

as

choisi

un

crayon

vous

avons

ai

choisé

choisir

Drag and Drop

Order the following words to make the sentence correct

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​

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​

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​ la cabine. (They danced in the cabin)

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

Ils

ont

dansé

dans

Il

avons

avoir

dansu

dansi

a

That is it for today

Important reminder!!!

There are a few regular verbs that use être instead avoir to form the passé composé.
To ease you into things, we did not look at any of those words, but we will practice them in our next lesson.
In the meantime, well done!