Perfect Tense – Regular Verbs
In this lesson, we examine how to form the perfect tense in French, also known as the passé composé using avoir and être.
What is the perfect tense in French?
The perfect tense is known as the passé composé in French. It corresponds to English equivalents such as ‘I have played’ or ‘I have eaten,’ which comprises the helping verb, or auxiliary verb, ‘to have’ and what is known as a past participle, ‘played.’
It is frequently the most used tense in spoken French to refer to any completed action in the past or a series of past events, including those completed at specific times.
| French | English |
|---|---|
| J’ai joué au foot. | I have played football. |
| Hier j’ai joué au foot. | Yesterday, I played football. |
These two examples show how French just uses one tense, the perfect tense, made up of the auxiliary verb avoir and a past participle for both sentences, while English uses the perfect tense in one case and the simple past tense in the other.
English often uses the simple past tense, which is a past tense which doesn’t use the verb ‘to have,’ when a specific time reference, such as ‘yesterday’ is introduced and the action is complete.
How do you create the French past participle?
To form the past participle of regular verbs, you remove the ‘-er,’ ‘-re’ or ‘-ir’ from the end of the infinitive. This gives you the stem. You then add -é to -er verbs, -u to -re verbs and -i to -ir verbs, as follows:
| Infinitive | Stem | Past Participle |
|---|---|---|
| manger | mang | mangé |
| vendre | vend | vendu |
| choisir | chois | choisi |
Example of -er verb in full:
| j’ai mangé | I have eaten, I ate |
| tu as mangé | you have eaten, you ate |
| il a mangé | he has eaten, she ate |
| elle a mangé | she has eaten, she ate |
| nous avons mangé | we have eaten, we ate |
| vous avez mangé | you have eaten, you ate |
| ils ont mangé | they have eaten, they ate |
| elles ont mangé | they have eaten, they ate |
Example of -re verb:
| j’ai vendu | I have sold, I sold |
| tu as vendu | you have sold, you sold |
| il a vendu | he has sold, she sold |
| elle a vendu | she has sold, she sold |
| nous avons vendu | we have sold, we sold |
| vous avez vendu | you have sold, you sold |
| ils ont vendu | they have sold, they sold |
| elles ont vendu | they have sold, they sold |
Example of -ir verb
| j’ai choisi | I have chosen, I chose |
| tu as choisi | you have chosen, you chose |
| il a choisi | he has chosen, she chose |
| elle a choisi | she has chosen, she chose |
| nous avons choisi | we have chosen, we chose |
| vous avez choisi | you have chosen, you chose |
| ils ont choisi | they have chosen, they chose |
| elles ont choisi | they have chosen, they chose |
Take the quiz to practice creating the correct past participles!
What is the perfect tense with être?
As described, in most cases, verbs use avoir in order to create the perfect tense. However, there are some French verbs that, unlike their English counterparts, use être as the helping, or auxiliary, verb instead.
The verbs that require être are often associated with movement or changes of state. Here are the most common verbs that must be formed using être:
| aller | to go |
| arriver | to arrive |
| descendre | to descend |
| entrer | to enter |
| monter | to climb |
| mourir * | to die |
| naître * | to be born |
| partir | to leave |
| passer | to pass |
| rester | to stay |
| retourner | to return |
| sortir | to leave, go out |
| tomber | to fall |
| venir * | to come |
* Mourir, naître and venir also do not form their past participles in the ways described above, as they all have an irregular past participle. Don’t worry, we’ll come back to these – these are covered in the next lesson!
How do you form the perfect tense with être?
These verbs need special care when forming them, as the past participle changes its ending based on whether it is being used in a masculine, feminine or plural context. Here’s what it looks like, with those changes needed highlighted:
| French | English |
|---|---|
| je suis arrivé (if you are a male speaker) je suis arrivée (if you are a female speaker) | I have arrived, I arrived |
| tu es arrivé (masculine) tu es arrivée (feminine) | you have arrived, you arrived |
| il est arrivé | he has arrived, she arrived |
| elle est arrivée | she has arrived, she arrived |
| nous sommes arrivés (masculine) nous sommes arrivées (feminine) | we have arrived, we arrived |
| vous êtes arrivé (masculine) vous êtes arrivés (plural) vous êtes arrivée (feminine) vous êtes arrivées (feminine, plural) | you have arrived, you arrived |
| ils sont arrivés | they have arrived, they arrived |
| elles sont arrivées | they have arrived, they arrived |