Passé Composé in French Made Easy

The passé composé is one of the most important French past tenses. It is used to talk about completed actions and events, but choosing between avoir and être and forming the past participle can feel confusing at first.

This guide explains when to use the passé composé and how to form it through clear rules, practical examples and a short exercise. If you would like more focused practice and personalised feedback, my intensive French courses can help you strengthen your grammar and use past tenses more confidently.

(Answers: 1: j’ai oublié / 2: a fait / 3: sommes allé(e)s / 4: a offert / 5: avons mis / 6: avez lu / 7: sont partis / 8: est montée / 9: a voulu / 10: ont vu / 11. sommes réveillé(e)s)

The passé composé is one of the tenses colloquially used in French to talk about past event. It’s called in English the compound past or the present perfect. It refers to:

• something that happened once
• an event that happened at a specific time
• something that moved the story forward

Examples:

• J’ai déjeuné à midi. (I had lunch at noon).

• Nous avons travaillé hier. (We worked yesterday).

• Ils sont allés à la plage la semaine dernière. (They went to the beach last week).

When you are telling someone what happened yesterday or at a specific moment, you will probably use the passé composé. If you are unsure when to use this tense rather than the imparfait, read my guide to choosing between the imparfait and passé composé.

The passé composé in French is formed with a conjugated auxiliary verb followed by the past participle of the main verb:

Present tense of avoir or être + past participle

Choosing the correct auxiliary is therefore an essential first step. You can review the conjugations and uses of both verbs in my practical guide to être and avoir.

Most French verbs form the passé composé with the auxiliary avoir. To build it, conjugate avoir in the present tense and add the past participle of the main verb. With avoir, the past participle generally does not agree with the subject, although it may agree with a direct object placed before the verb.

• être → j’ai été (I was)

• avoir → j’ai eu (I had)

Regular verbs ending in -er form their past participle by replacing -er with -é. This predictable pattern makes them some of the easiest verbs to use in the passé composé.

However, many past participle are irregular. Here are a few as follows:

It helps to group verbs that have similar past participle endings. For instance, all of these verbs end in -u, which makes them easier to remember

If you’re unsure of the past participle or auxiliary, don’t forget to check the Bescherelle – French verb conjugation for reference.

A smaller group of verbs form the passé composé with être. These verbs are often remembered through la maison d’être or the mnemonic Mrs Vandertramp: aller, venir, entrer, sortir, arriver, partir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, rester, tomber, retourner and passer.

With être, the past participle normally agrees with the subject in gender and number:

• add -e for a feminine subject: Elle est arrivée. (She arrived.)
• add -s for a plural subject: Ils sont partis. (They left.)
• add -es for a feminine plural subject: Elles sont venues. (They came.)

Some verbs, including sortir, rentrer, monter, descendre, passer and retourner, can form the passé composé with either être or avoir. When they describe movement without a direct object, they generally use être. When they take a direct object, they use avoir.

Compare these examples:

• Elle est montée dans son bureau. (She went up to her office.)
• Elle a monté son sac dans son bureau. (She carried her bag up to her office.)
• Elles sont passées à la boulangerie. (They stopped by the bakery.)
• Elles ont passé une semaine chez moi. (They spent a week at my house.)

All French reflexive verbs (verbs with se at the infinitive) use être in the passé composé, no exceptions !

The structure is: subject + reflexive pronoun + être + past participle

Examples:

• Je me suis réveillé(e). (I woke up).

• Tu t’es lavé(e). (You washed yourself).

• Elle s’est préparée. (She got ready).

And just like other verbs with être, the past participle usually agrees with the subject:

• Ils se sont levés.

• Elles se sont couchées.

With reflexive verbs, the past participle often agrees with the subject. However, the agreement also depends on the grammatical function of the reflexive pronoun. My dedicated guide explains the rules of past participle agreement in the passé composé in more detail.

Use the verbs from the table to complete the sentences in passé composé.

1. Hier, j’________ (oublier) mon portefeuille.

2. Elle________ (faire) un gâteau au chocolat.

3. Nous ________ (aller) au bureau hier soir.

4. Elle ________ (offrir) un cadeau à sa mère

5. Nous ________ (mettre) les livres sur l’étagère.

6. Vous ________ (lire) ce livre la semaine dernière.

7. Ils ________ (partir) en vacances au Portugal.

8. Elle ________ (monter) au 2eme étage.

9. Tu________ (vouloir) apprendre le français.

10. Elles ________ (voir) Emily in Paris.

11. Nous ________ (se réveiller) à 8 heures.