Pass Compos

The Perfect Tense

Le pass compos is the most commonly used form of the past tense in French. Once you know it, you will be able to express a huge range of ideas in spoken form. It is also a platform for other tenses, including the pluperfect [Plus-que-parfait], future perfect [futur antrieur], past conditional [pass du conditionnel], past anterior [pass antrieur] and the pass surcompos. While the prospect of learning all these additional tenses may frighten you, I can assure them that you will find them easy if you simply get a good mastery of the pass compos. Le pass compos is also called the conversational past tense, and is used when talking about an action that was completed at a definite time in the past. The English equivalent is I asked; she said; we went. However, in form, it is like I have asked; she has said; we have been. Form Le pass compos is a compound tense, which means that it has two parts: the auxiliary verb and the past participle. The auxiliary verb is either the present form of avoir or tre. Jai vu I saw Past Participles The past participle is the last word in all of the phrases [vu, eu, parl]. Short adverbs, like bien, are placed before the past participle. However, others, like lentement, are placed after it. Elle a bien chant She sang well Elle a chant lentement She sang slowly Tu as eu You had Il a parl He spoke

Regular er Verbs Regular -er verbs drop the er from the infinitive and replace it with to form the past participle. parler to speak parl jai parl tu as parl il/ elle/ on a parl -ir Verbs Although many ir verbs are irregular in the present tense, some of these still have regular past participles. The ir is replaced with i dormir to sleep dormi jai dormi tu as dormi il/ elle/ on a dormi -re Verbs Again, although many re verbs are irregular in the present tense, some of them still have regular past participles. The re is replaced with u. rpondre to respond rpondu jai rpondu tu as rpondu il/ elle/ on a rpondu nous avons rpondu vous avez rpondu ils/ elles ont rpondu nous avons dormi vous avez dormi ils/ elles ont dormi nous avons parl vous avez parl ils/ elles ont parl

Irregular Past Participles

Note that many of these can be grouped together:

Infinitive tre rire sourire suffire suivre acqurir conqurir mettre prendre apprendre comprendre surprendre reprendre dire crire dcrire conduire construire cuire dtruire produire recontruire traduire faire

English to be to laugh to smile to suffice to follow to acquire, purchase to conquer, capture to put to take to learn to understand to surprise to recapture to say to write to describe to take/ drive sb somewhere to construct, build to cook to destroy to produce to reconstruct to translate to do, make

Past Participle t ri souri suffi suivi acquis conquis mis pris appris compris surprise repris dit crit dcrit conduit construit cuit dtruit produit reconstruit traduit fait

connatre reconnatre paratre apparatre disparatre tenir convenir courir secourir plaire dplaire se taire devoir dcevoir apercevoir concevoir recevoir avoir boire croire pouvoir savoir voir falloir pleuvoir valoir vouloir lire lire vivre survivre ouvrir couvrir dcouvrir offrir souffrir

to know to recognise to appear to appear to disappear to hold to admit (que, de) to suit () to run, race to help, assist to please to displease to be quiet, still to have to to disappoint to see, notice to imagine, conceive of to receive to have to drink to believe to be able to know to see to have to to rain to be worth to want to read to elect to live to survive to open to cover to discover to give to suffer

connu reconnu paru apparu disparu tenu convenu couru secouru plu dplu tu d du apercu conu reu eu bu cru pu su vu fallu plu valu voulu lu lu vcu survcu ouvert couvert dcouvert offert souffert

craindre plaindre atteindre teindre peindre joindre

to fear to pity, complain to achieve to extinguish to paint to join

craint plaint atteint teint peint joint

Verbs Conjugated with Avoir The vast majority of verbs in French are conjugated with avoir in the pass compos. The form, as seen earlier, is simply to use avoir in the present tense, and then the past participle of the verb. Under most circumstances, the past participle does not alter based on gender or number. Jai craint Il a lu Vous avez fait I feared He read You did/ made

Agreement of the Past Participle With avoir, there is only agreement of the past participle if a direct object is placed before the verb. Elle a mang les pommes Elle les a manges She ate the apples She ate them

**The e- is added because apples are a feminine word, and the s is added because it is in the plural. - - Dont forget that it is still pronounced the same way!!!

Also, the participle agrees if the direct object is before the subject. Voil les photos que jai prises Here are the photos that I took

When the e is added to the past participle of the verb in the feminine form, the pronunciation usually stays the same. It only changes if the participle ends in a consonant. pris [pree]

prise [preez]

The same goes for adding the s in the plural.

Exceptions to the Extra Letters Some past participles do not change, even to agree with a direct object. avoir prendre

eu

Does not change at all pris Does not change for plural masculine -never: priss

pris, prise, prises

Also, when there is an infinitive verb used after the participle, which relates to the direct object, there is no change les tches quelle a d complter the tasks that she had to do

There are also some verbs that are used with a unit of price, weight, distance, time, length, etc. These are invariable and do not change to agree with the direct object. les deux heures que jai couru les cent kilos que jai pes the two hours that I ran for the 100kg that I weighed

Be careful here, though, because sometimes they still agree: les dangers que jai courus les paquets que jai pess the dangers that I ran from the packets that I weighed

Verbs Conjugated with tre There are only a few verbs which are conjugated with tre. If it helps you to remember them, you should note that most of these verbs involve displacement (i.e. moving). However, this is not strictly the case. aller venir entrer sortir arriver partir monter descendre natre mourir revenir retourner tomber rester rentrer devenir to go to come to enter to leave, go out to arrive to leave to go up, get on to go down, get off to be born to die to come back to go back to fall to stay to return to become all venu entr sorti arriv parti mont descendu n mort revenu retourn tomb rest rentr devenu

Most of these can be remembered as pairs of opposites. With these verbs, the past participle agrees with the subject based on number and gender. je suis all(e) tu es all(e) il, on est all elle est alle nous sommes all(e)s vous tes all(e)(s) ils sont alls elles sont alles

Verbs that are used with tre and avoir There are a few verbs which can be used with tre or avoir, depending on the context they are used in. These are: monter descendre sortir entrer rentrer

They only use avoir when they have direct objects. elle est monte elle a mont lescalier she went up she went up the stairs

The verb passer can also take both tre and avoir, however the rules for this verb are different. It is used with tre when it means: to pass by to come by to stop by to be over

It is used with avoir when it means: to spend time to take an exam her life is over she took her French exam in November

sa vie est passe elle a pass son examen de franais en novembre

Reflexive Verbs in the Pass Compos All reflexive verbs are used with tre in the pass compos. The reflexive pronoun is placed after the subject and before the verbs. je me suis assis(e) tu tes assis(e) il, on sest assis elle sest assise nous nous sommes assis(es) vous vous tes assis(es) ils se sont assis elles se sont assises

Agreement of Reflexive Verbs in the Pass Compos The past participle will agree with the reflexive pronoun when it is the direct object. ils se sont levs they got up

The past participle is in the masculine plural form because se is the direct object

However, when the direct object is not the pronoun, there is no agreement ils se sont lav les mains they washed their hands

Here, les mains is the direct object, and there is no agreement.

However, if the direct object is placed before the verbs as an object pronoun, there is agreement with the object pronoun, les. ils se les sont laves they washed them

If the reciprocal reflexive verb is in the pass compos, and there is an indirect object, there is no agreement elles se sont crit they wrote to each other

If there is a direct object, then there is agreement elles se sont vues they saw each other

Uses of the Pass Compos Past Action The pass compos describes an action that happened in the past and definitely finished. The action was completed in the past. There are number of expressions that are typically used with the pass compos hier avant-hier hier soir lautre jour un samedi, dimanche, etc... une fois, deux fois... plusieurs fois quelquefois la semaine dernire lanne passe yesterday the day before yesterday last night the other day one Saturday, Sunday, etc... once, twice several times sometimes last week last year

Difference Between Imparfait and Pass Compos Specific Action or Habitual/ Continuing Action The imparfait describes actions that are continuing, habitual, or had a long duration. The pass compos describes past actions that were completed in the past. The main point of difference is that actions with the pass compos were terminated. jai jou de la guitare hier soir je jouais de la guitare tous les jeudis I played the guitar yesterday evening I played the guitar every Thursday

With certain expressions The expressions souvent, parfois and quelquefois are a little bit tricky, because they can be used with the imparfait or the pass compos, depending on the context When they describe a series of completed actions, they use the pass compos il est all souvent la plage He went to the beach often [on several occasions]

The imparfait is used when the speaker is describing a habitual occurrence il allait souvent la plage he used to go to the beach often [on a regular basis]

Specific Action or Ongoing Action When an action occurred in the background on another past action, or in other words, it was taking place and continued to take place when another event occurred, it is expressed in the imparfait. The new action that interrupted it is expressed in the pass compos. However, if the both occur simultaneously, then they are both written in the same tense. quand je suis arriv, elle dansait il buvait quand le tlphone a sonn Maryline est partie et Franois est arriv when I arrived, she was dancing he was drinking when the telephone rang Maryline left and Franois arrived

In most cases, the pass compos will be used to describe something that happened. If the event was instead in the background, then it is in the imparfait.

Event or Background When something happens in the background to another event, it is written in the imparfait. It tends to relate to conditions, a state of mind or something that was going on. The action in the pass compos is used for the event that happened next or was the main event. Il faisait beau Il a mang trs vite parce quil avait faim the weather was nice he ate quickly because he was hungry

Verbs with Different Meanings in the Imparfait or Pass Compos avoir il avait soif il a eu soif connatre elle connaissait ma cousine elle a connu ma cousine

he was thirsty he became thirsty

she knew my cousin she met my cousin

pouvoir je pouvais sortir jai pu sortir savoir je savais la rponse jai su la rponse

I could leave [it was easy for me] I could leave [and I did]

I knew the answer I found out the answer

vouloir elle voulait rester deux semaines elle a voulu rester deux semaines elle ne voulait pas rester deux semaines elle na pas voulu rester deux semaines

she wanted to stay for two weeks she tried to stay for two weeks she didnt want to stay for two weeks she refused to stay for two weeks

And thats about it! Well done if you understood all of this [dont worry if it takes a while to soak in]. Now, the most important thing is that you practice, practice, and practice! As much as we all hate grammar drills and repetitive exercises, it is essential that you do as many of them as you can to really help it sink in and go into your long-term memory. I hope you have found this guide easy to understand and useful

Oh, and if you find any typos [or think you may have], I advise that you double check them in another grammar book. I may have made a mistake, so please dont just take everything in here to be 100% correct... but Im pretty sure that it is all correct. Please dont hesitate to contact me about any changes that you think I should make!! [email protected] http://ibscrewed4french.blogspot.com/