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I. FormationPassé Composé is formed by using the

present tense of avoir or être plus a past participle to indicate a single action that has happened in the past.

Forms of AvoirJ’ai Nous avonsTu as Vous avezIl/Elle/On a Ils/Elles ont

Past Participle FormationStep 1: Drop the last 2 letters from a

REGULAR VERB, add the following endings:

er éir ire u

Irregular Past Participles Used with Avoir

IRire (to laugh) – riSourire (to smile) – souriSuivre (to follow) – suivi

ISmettre (to put, to wear) – misprendre (to take) – pris

*other verbs that have mettre and prendre in them will follow the same pattern (permettre, apprendre, comprendre)

Irregulars, cont’dIT

Dire (to say, to tell) – ditÉcrire (to write) – écritConduire (to drive) – conduitProduire (to produce) - produit

ERTOuvrir (to open) – ouvertCouvrir (to cover) – couvertDécouvrir (to discover) – découvertOffrir – (to offer) – offertSouffrir (to suffer) - souffert

Irregulars, cont’dUDevoir (must) – dûAvoir (to have) – euBoire (to drink) – buLire (to read) – luPouvoir (to be able to) – puVoir (to see) – vuCroire (to believe) – cruConnaître (to believe) – connuRecevoir (to receive) – reçuVouloir – vouluFalloir (to be necessary) – falluCourir (to run) – couruVivre (to live) - vécu

Just plain Irregular:Être – (to be) – étéFaire (to do; make) – fait

être in Passé ComposéThe verb être is only used in passé composé

when you have a Vandertramp or reflexive (se) verb

Forms of être:Je suis Nous

sommesTu es Vous êtesIl/elle/on est Ils/elles sont

Dr. Mrs. VandertrampIf you have a verb that is NOT on this list and

is not reflexive (se verbs), then you will use avoir as the auxillary, not être.

*Devenir (to become) – devenu*Revenir (to come back) – revenu*Mourir (to die) – mortRester (to stay)Sortir (to go out)

Vandertramp, cont’d*Venir (to come) – venuAller (to go)*Naître (to be born) – néDescendre (to go down)Entrer (to enter)Rentrer (to re-enter)Tomber (to fall)Retourner (to return)Arriver (to arrive)Monter (to climb)Partir (to leave)

Agreement RulesYou will add agreement in 2 ways with passé

composé – a) if you are using être as the auxillary verb, and b) if you have a preceeding direct object with avoir.

/

e

s es

Masc.

Fem.

Sing.

Plural

ReflexivesUse reflexive pronoun and add être as

auxillary, then follow basic passé composé rules and add agreement if necessary:Je me suis_____ Nous nous sommes _____Tu t’es _____ Vous vous êtes

_____Il/elle/on s’est ____ Ils/Elles se sont _______

*EX: Je me suis beaucoup amusé à la plage.Elle s’est levée tôt ce matin.