The passé composé of 17 verbs is formed by combining the present tense of être (je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont) and then adding the past participle of the verb showing the action. Most of these verbs express motion or a change of place, state, or condition (that is, going up, going down, going in, going out, or remaining).
Dr. and Mrs. Vandertrampp live in the house in Figure , as illustrated in Table 1. Their name may help you memorize the 17 verbs using être. An asterisk (*) in Table 6 denotes an irregular past participle.
Verbs whose helping verb is être must show agreement of their past participles in gender (masculine or feminine — add e) and number (singular or plural — add s) with the subject noun or pronoun, as shown in Table 2:
Remember the following rules when using être as a helping verb in the passé composé:
Vous can be a singular or plural subject for both masculine and feminine subjects.
SingularPlural
Vous êtes entré. (You entered.)Vous êtes entrés. (You entered.)
Vous êtes entrée. (You entered.)Vous êtes entrées. (You entered.)
For a mixed group, always use the masculine form.
- Roger et Bernard sont revenus. (Roger and Bernard came back.)
- Louise et Mireille sont revenues. (Louise and Mireille came back.)
- Roger et Louise sont revenus. (Roger and Louise came back.)
If the masculine past participle ends in an unpronounced consonant, pronounce the consonant for the feminine singular and plural forms:
- Il est mort. (He died.) Ils sont morts. (They died.)
- Elle est morte. (She died.) Elles sont mortes. (They died.)
Forming the negative in the passé composé with être
In the negative, put ne before the conjugated form of être and the negative word after it:
- Il n'est pas sorti. (He didn't go out.)
- Elles ne sont pas encore arrivées. (They didn't arrive yet.)
Questions in the passé composé with être
To form a question using inversion, invert the conjugated form of être with the subject pronoun and add a hyphen. The negatives surround the hyphenated verb and pronoun:
- Sont‐ils partis? (Did they leave?)
- Ne sont‐ils pas partis? (Didn't they leave?)
FAQs
The passé composé of 17 verbs is formed by combining the present tense of être (je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont) and then adding the past participle of the verb showing the action.
What is the past tense of être? ›
The compound past needs to be combined with the auxiliary verb avoir (to have) and the past participle of être, which is été.
What are the 17 verbs with être? ›
Seventeen verbs are aller, arriver, descendre, devenir, entrer, monter, mourir, naître, partir, passer, rentrer, rester, retourner, revenir, sortir, tomber, and venir, which require être.
What is the rule for passé composé? ›
To form the passé composé of verbs using avoir, conjugate avoir in the present tense (j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont) and add the past participle of the verb expressing the action. Put the words together this way: subject + helping verb (usually avoir) + past participle.
What are the 3 parts of the passé composé conjugation? ›
Le Passé Composé: IR, ER, RE
- There are three main parts to the past tense in French. ...
- When you compose a sentence, a subject is usually included. ...
- For regular ir, er, and re verbs, the auxiliary would be the verb “avoir” conjugated into the present tense.
The passé composé of 17 verbs is formed by combining the present tense of être (je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont) and then adding the past participle of the verb showing the action.
What are the conjugations for être? ›
In the present tense, être is conjugated as follows:
- Je suis.
- Tu es.
- Il/Elle/On est.
- Nous sommes.
- Vous êtes.
- Ils/Elles sont.
A few examples include: j'ai appris (I learned), elle a écrit (she wrote), nous avons bu (we drank), and tu as vu (you saw).
Is passer être or avoir ? ›
In the lesson on the above topic, it states that if "passer" is followed by a direct object, it uses "avoir" in the passé composé. Elle est passée chez Laurent hier. She passed by Laurent's place yesterday. Here, passer is followed by a direct object, yet uses "être".
What is avoir in passé composé? ›
In Le Passé Composé (compound past), the verb "avoir" (to have) has an irregular past participle: "eu", and works with 'avoir' as an auxiliary.
One of the most difficult things about the passé composé is when to use the auxiliary verb avoir and when to use être.
Is aller être or avoir ? ›
Aller is an irregular -er verb and needs the auxiliary verb être in compound tenses.
When to use être or avoir? ›
In the present tense, "être" allows you to express characteristics, identity, and states of being, while "avoir" is indispensable for indicating possession and relationships.
Is Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp having or être? ›
DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP seems to be the standard mnemonic device for être verbs in the United States.
What are the past tense in French? ›
The 21 French Verb Tenses
| Tense | Time | Use |
|---|
| Imparfait | Past | Common |
| Passé Simple | Past | Literary |
| Passé Composé | Past | Most Common |
| Futur Simple | Future | Most Common |
18 more rowsAvoir (to have) and être (to be) are both auxiliary verbs used in the perfect tense in French. The majority of words take avoir in the passé composé, e.g. 'I played' becomes j'ai joué. All reflexive verbs in French take être - these are verbs that you do to yourself (e.g. je me suis habillé).
What is the past tense of avoir? ›
Avoir in passé composé, meaning the past tense, is "had." It is created by conjugating avoir in present tense and adding the past participle eu. The conjugations are: J'ai eu.
