The passé composé is a French past tense used for completed actions and events. You can use it to say what you ate yesterday, where you went last weekend, or what happened at a certain moment.
It has two parts: a present-tense form of avoir or être, plus a past participle. This guide shows you how to put them together and choose the right helping verb.
What Is the Passé Composé?
The passé composé often matches the English simple past, such as “I ate.” Depending on the context, it can also match the present perfect, such as “I have eaten.”
J'ai mangé. — I ate / I have eaten.
Elle est arrivée à huit heures. — She arrived at eight o'clock.
The name means “compound past” because it combines a helping verb and the past participle of the main verb. In j'ai parlé (I spoke), ai is the helping verb and parlé is the past participle.
When Do You Use the Passé Composé?
Use it to present an action or event as completed, including a single event or a sequence of events:
- J'ai fini mes devoirs. — I finished my homework.
- Nous avons visité Paris l'année dernière. — We visited Paris last year.
- Je me suis levé, j'ai pris mon petit-déjeuner et je suis parti. — I got up, ate breakfast, and left.
For a past habit or background description, French often uses the imparfait instead: Quand j'étais enfant, je jouais souvent au foot. (When I was a child, I often played soccer.) You can learn the choice between these tenses in more detail in a separate guide to passé composé vs imparfait.
How Do You Form the Passé Composé?
Subject + present tense of avoir or être + past participle
Start with the subject, choose and conjugate the helping verb, then add the past participle:
- Je (I) + ai (the je form of avoir) + parlé (past participle of parler) → J'ai parlé. (I spoke.)
- Elle (she) + est (the elle form of être) + arrivée → Elle est arrivée. (She arrived.)
Most verbs take avoir. A smaller group of verbs and reflexive verbs take être. With être, the past participle often changes to match the subject.
How to Make Regular Past Participles
| Verb ending | Change to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -er | -é | parler → parlé (to speak → spoken) |
| -ir | -i | finir → fini (to finish → finished) |
| -re | -u | vendre → vendu (to sell → sold) |
These patterns work for regular verbs. Common irregular forms, such as faire → fait, need to be learned separately.
Passé Composé with Avoir
Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle. For most verbs, this is the pattern you need.
| Subject | Avoir | Complete example |
|---|---|---|
| je | ai | j'ai parlé |
| tu | as | tu as parlé |
| il / elle / on | a | elle a parlé |
| nous | avons | nous avons parlé |
| vous | avez | vous avez parlé |
| ils / elles | ont | ils ont parlé |
Nous avons pris le métro. — We took the subway. Here pris is the irregular past participle of prendre.
Passé Composé with Être
Some verbs use the present tense of être and a past participle. Learn these verbs as a set rather than assuming that every verb about movement takes être.
| Subject | Être | Complete example |
|---|---|---|
| je | suis | je suis parti(e) |
| tu | es | tu es parti(e) |
| il / elle | est | il est parti / elle est partie |
| nous | sommes | nous sommes partis / parties |
| vous | êtes | vous êtes parti(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | sont | ils sont partis / elles sont parties |
The ending changes with the person or people being described. For example, partie refers to one female person; parties refers to a group of female people.
Which Verbs Use Être?
Common verbs include the following. The past participles in the table are shown in their basic form; their endings may change in a sentence.
| Verb | Past participle | Example and meaning |
|---|---|---|
| aller | allé | Elle est allée à Paris. — She went to Paris. |
| venir | venu | Il est venu hier. — He came yesterday. |
| arriver | arrivé | Elle est arrivée tôt. — She arrived early. |
| partir | parti | Ils sont partis à midi. — They left at noon. |
| entrer | entré | Elle est entrée. — She went in. |
| sortir | sorti | Nous sommes sortis. — We went out. |
| retourner | retourné | Ils sont retournés à Paris. — They went back to Paris. |
| rentrer | rentré | Elle est rentrée tard. — She came home late. |
| rester | resté | Elle est restée chez elle. — She stayed home. |
| tomber | tombé | Il est tombé. — He fell. |
| naître | né | Il est né à Lyon. — He was born in Lyon. |
| mourir | mort | Elle est morte en 1995. — She died in 1995. |
Some verbs change helping verb when they take a direct object. Compare Elle est sortie (She went out) with Elle a sorti son téléphone (She took out her phone). Monter, descendre, passer, rentrer, and retourner can also work this way.
Past Participle Agreement
With a nonreflexive verb that takes être, the past participle agrees with the subject. A feminine subject usually adds -e; a plural subject usually adds -s.
- Il est arrivé. — He arrived.
- Elle est arrivée. — She arrived.
- Ils sont arrivés. — They arrived (male or mixed group).
- Elles sont arrivées. — They arrived (female group).
With avoir, the past participle does not agree with the subject: Elle a mangé and Ils ont mangé. In a more advanced construction, it can agree with a direct object placed before the verb: les lettres que j'ai écrites (the letters that I wrote).
Reflexive Verbs in the Passé Composé
Reflexive verbs, such as se lever (to get up), use être. The reflexive pronoun goes before the helping verb:
- Je me suis levé tôt. — I got up early.
- Elle s'est habillée. — She got dressed.
- Nous nous sommes réveillés à sept heures. — We woke up at seven o'clock.
Agreement with reflexive verbs has extra rules. You cannot always add an ending just because the subject is feminine or plural. For instance, Elle s'est lavé les mains (She washed her hands) has no extra -e on lavé. Learn these details in a dedicated guide to French reflexive verbs.
Common Irregular Past Participles
These verbs do not follow the regular -é, -i, or -u pattern. Learn the whole form in a short sentence.
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example and meaning |
|---|---|---|
| avoir | eu | J'ai eu une idée. — I had an idea. |
| être | été | J'ai été malade. — I was sick. |
| faire | fait | Elle a fait ses devoirs. — She did her homework. |
| prendre | pris | Nous avons pris le train. — We took the train. |
| mettre | mis | Il a mis son manteau. — He put on his coat. |
| voir | vu | J'ai vu Marie. — I saw Marie. |
| boire | bu | Elle a bu du café. — She drank coffee. |
| lire | lu | Nous avons lu le livre. — We read the book. |
| écrire | écrit | Il a écrit une lettre. — He wrote a letter. |
| pouvoir | pu | Elle a pu venir. — She was able to come. |
| vouloir | voulu | Nous avons voulu essayer. — We wanted to try. |
| devoir | dû | J'ai dû partir. — I had to leave. |
How to Make Negatives and Questions
Negatives
In standard written French, put ne (or n') before the helping verb and pas after it: Je n'ai pas mangé. (I did not eat.) With être: Elle n'est pas venue. (She did not come.)
Other negative words can have different positions. See our guide to French negative adverbs for jamais, plus, and more.
Questions
In conversation, you can use your voice to ask Tu as fini ? (Have you finished?). You can also say Est-ce que tu as fini ? In more formal French, use inversion: As-tu fini ? The helping verb changes with the subject; the past participle remains fini.
Common Passé Composé Mistakes
- Leaving out the helping verb: Say J'ai mangé (I ate), not Je mangé.
- Using the wrong helping verb: Say Je suis allé à Paris (I went to Paris), not J'ai allé à Paris.
- Forgetting agreement with être: A woman would write Je suis allée (I went). A group of women would write Nous sommes allées (We went).
- Using it for every past sentence: A repeated childhood habit usually needs the imparfait, as in Je jouais au foot tous les samedis (I played soccer every Saturday).
Conclusion
To form the passé composé, choose avoir or être in the present tense and add the main verb's past participle. Most verbs use avoir; certain verbs and reflexive verbs use être. Check agreement when needed, and practice with short sentences such as J'ai vu Marie and Elle est partie.
Want to use these forms when you speak? You can practice with a teacher in French As You Like It's online French lessons.
