The ⟦passé composé⟧

What you will practice

• Build the compound past with an auxiliary and a participle.
• Use être with aller, venir, and partir, and make the participle agree.
• Leave an avoir participle unchanged for its subject.

Explanation

Two parts

The passé composé presents an action as complete. It has two parts: a present form of avoir or être, and a past participle. Most verbs take avoir. J'ai parlé means I spoke, or I have spoken. The auxiliary is the word that changes for the subject: tu as parlé, nous avons parlé, ils ont fini. The participle stays after that auxiliary. This lesson does not teach the imperfect. That contrast comes in a later lesson.

Agreement with être

The verbs aller, venir, and partir take être here. The participle then agrees with the subject. Feminine singular adds e: elle est allée, elle est venue, elle est partie. Masculine plural adds s: ils sont allés, ils sont venus. Feminine plural adds es: elles sont parties. Verbs with avoir do not agree with the subject. Elle a parlé and elle a fini keep one unchanged participle. In this lesson, subject agreement belongs to the être group only.

The participle

Many participles are regular. An -er verb ends in -é: parler gives parlé. Many -ir verbs end in -i: finir gives fini. The three être verbs here are irregular: allé, venu, and parti. Add agreement to that form. allée is allé plus e, and parties is parti plus es. The ending shows gender and number. It does not create a separate verb.

Examples

1. J'ai parlé.I spoke.
2. Elle est allée.She went.
3. Elle a fini.She finished.
4. Ils sont venus.They came. (masculine or mixed)
5. Elles sont parties.They left. (feminine)

Common mistakes

• Elle a allée uses the wrong auxiliary. aller takes être: Elle est allée.
• With vous, choose allé, allée, allés, or allées for the people you are addressing.