Passé composé with avoir
When you want to talk about something that happened and is finished, French uses the passé composé. It is the everyday past tense: what you did yesterday, this morning, last weekend. Most verbs build it with the helper verb avoir in the present, followed by the past participle of the main verb. So j'ai mangé means I ate or I have eaten.
The recipe is simple: subject + avoir (present) + past participle. To make the participle, take an -er verb and change the ending to -é (parler becomes parlé), an -ir verb to -i (finir becomes fini), and many -re verbs to -u (attendre becomes attendu). A few common verbs are irregular and you simply learn them.
| j'ai mangé | I ate / I have eaten |
| tu as parlé | you spoke (informal) |
| il a fini | he finished |
| nous avons regardé | we watched |
| vous avez attendu | you waited (formal/plural) |
| elles ont travaillé | they worked (feminine) |
| j'ai fait | I did / I made (faire) |
| j'ai eu | I had (avoir) |
| j'ai été | I was (être) |
| j'ai pris | I took (prendre) |
| j'ai vu | I saw (voir) |
| j'ai bu | I drank (boire) |
Associez chaque participe passé à son infinitif.
Match each past participle with its infinitive.
Quelle phrase est au passé composé et bien construite ?
Which sentence is in the passé composé and correctly built?
Complétez avec l'auxiliaire avoir.
Complete with the auxiliary avoir.
Nous ____ regardé un film.
Complétez avec le participe passé de finir.
Complete with the past participle of finir.
Elle a ____ son travail.
Traduisez en utilisant le passé composé.
Translate using the passé composé.
I took the bus.
Traduisez en utilisant le passé récent (venir de).
Translate using the recent past (venir de).
I have just eaten.
For something that just happened, French often uses the passé récent: venir de in the present + the infinitive. Je viens de manger means I have just eaten. It is handy in conversation to say an action is fresh.
To tell a clear story, add sequencing adverbs: d'abord (first), ensuite / puis (then), après (afterwards), enfin (finally). They order your events and make your narration easy to follow, which examiners reward.
Choisissez la phrase négative correcte.
Choose the correct negative sentence.
Mettez les mots dans l'ordre pour raconter ce qui s'est passé.
Put the words in order to tell what happened.
Construisez la phrase au passé composé.
Build the sentence in the passé composé.
Écoutez et écrivez la phrase que vous entendez.
Listen and type the sentence you hear.
Complétez avec l'adverbe de séquence qui veut dire « finally ».
Complete with the sequencing adverb meaning 'finally'.
D'abord j'ai travaillé, puis j'ai mangé, et ____ , j'ai dormi.
0 of 11done. Finish the rest to complete (Try again, or Show answer if you’re stuck).