Le Passé Composé – With Avoir and Être (Auxiliary Verbs)

(You can scroll down if you want to see a similar picture for reflexive verbs in le passe composé)

So, now you should be able to recognize a past participle:

• Regarder (infinitive): Regardé (past participle)
• Finir (infinitive): Fini (past participle)
• Attendre (infinitive): Attendu (past participle)

Not too difficult, right? 🙂

The past participle represents the ”second” part of le passé composé.

The 2 irregular verbs avoir and être represent the first part of this past tense.

However, there are some differences between them:

Avoir is by far the most common one. Almost every verb can be tied to avoir in le passé composé.

In addition, we dont have to modify the past participle when avoir is the auxiliary. Take a look at all these examples:

1. J’ai donné: I gave
2. Tu as mangé: You ate
3. Il/elle/on a entendu: He/she/one heard
4. Nous avons regardé: We watched
5. Vous avez fini: You have finished
6. Ils/elles ont attendu: They waited

So, what do I mean by not having to change the past participle?

Look at number 4 and 5.

We don’t add an s to regardé, even if the pronoun is in the plural form (nous).

Same goes for number 6. In addition, we don’t add an e to attendu when the pronoun is elles (a group of women).

When être is the auxiliary

1. Je suis sorti(e): I came out.
2. Tu es allé(e): You went.
3. Il/elle/on est revenu(e): He/she/one came back
4. Nous sommes devenu(e)s: We became
5. Vous êtes parti(e)s: You left
6. Ils/elles sont tombé(e)s: They fell

Now we need to modify the verb. Did you notice that there is no possibility for an s in the examples 1 to 3?

I think it makes sense. These pronouns represent the singular form, while 4-6 represent the plural form.

However, we still have the possibility to add an e for number 1-3. For instance:

A woman came:

• Je suis sortie

A man came:

• Je suis sorti

Are you able to see the difference?

Number 4-6 gives us the possibility to add an e and an s.

A group of women became (something):

• Nous sommes devenues

A group of men became:

• Nous sommes devenus

I think you are able to see the difference?

You should remember that you always need to add an s for these forms. It makes sense when you look at the pronoun. These pronouns are in the plural form (nous, vous, ils and elles)

Reflexive verbs and le passé composé

Ok, so we have one more area to cover. Reflexive verbs will also use être as their auxiliary. What is a reflexive verb?

• Je me douche: I shower (myself).
• Elle s’entraîne: She trains (herself).

(I’ve added myself and herself to make it easier to understand. These verbs are not reflexive in English.)

Let’s look at s’entrâiner in the present indicative tense:

• Je m’entraîne: I train
• Tu t’entraînes: You train
• Il/elle/on s’entraîne: He/she/one trains
• Nous nous entraînons: We train
• Vous vous entraînez: You train
• Ils/elles s’entraînent: They train

So, we need to do 3 things in order to create the past tense:

• Add être as an auxiliary
• Change the infinitive s’entraîner (to train), to the past participle entraîné (trained)
• Change m’ to me för Je(there is no longer 2 vowels on after the other in the past tense).

Let’s see what it looks like with s’entraîner:

• Je me suis entraîné(e): I trained
• Tu t’es entraîné(e): You trained
• Il/elle/on s’est entraîné(e): He/she/one trained
• Nous nous sommes entraîné(e)s : We trained
• Vous vous êtes entraîné(e)s: You trained
• Ils/elles se sont entraîné(e)s: They trained

It’s very important to be able to conjugate reflexive verbs in le passé composé.

You could for instance use these verbs to talk about your day:

• Je me suis réveillé(e) tôt et je me suis douché(e). Ensuite, je me suis brossé(e) les dents. Enfin, j’ai pris mon pétit-déjeuner et je suis allé(e) au travail.
• I woke up and I showered. Then I brushed my teeth. Then I had breakfast and went to work.

Differences in pronunciation and spelling

There are many reflexive verbs, and they are actually quite important. You could for instance use them to talk about your day, and what you are about to do.

The problem is that there are many things to remember. In addition, we need to modify the past participle as it needs to agree in gender and number.

The good news is that you can’t hear the difference between them. For instance:

• Je me suis promené
• Je me suis promenée

There is no difference in pronunciation.

• Nous nous sommes promenés
• Nous nous sommes pronomées

Yet again, there is no difference in pronunciation.

However, you need to learn the difference in writing, especially if you are studying French in school or in university.

And, you can ask me a question in the comment section if you don’t understand the conjugation of the reflexive verbs :-).