The passé composé: The passé composé is the everyday French tense for completed past actions — things that started and finished, viewed as single, whole events.
Saying what happened: You use it to say what happened: j'ai mangé une pizza, nous sommes arrivés à huit heures, elle a habité au Canada.
A compound tense: two pieces
- An auxiliary: the helper verb avoir or être, in the present tense.
- + a past participle: the form of the main verb.
- So manger (to eat) → j'ai mangé (I ate / I have eaten).
- le passé composé
- the compound past — the everyday tense for completed actions
- l'auxiliaire
- the auxiliary — the helper verb avoir or être, in the present
- le participe passé
- the past participle — the main verb's form (mangé, fini, vendu)
- une action terminée
- a completed action — it started and finished in the past
- un moment précis
- a specific moment — when exactly it happened (hier, lundi)
- l'accord
- agreement — the participle can change to match the subject (with être)
When you reach for it: If the prompt asks what happened or what you did, or uses time markers like hier, la semaine dernière, tout à coup, une fois — it's the passé composé. It is the storytelling tense for finished events in the speaking and writing tasks.
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Auxiliary (avoir / être) + past participle: Build the passé composé in two steps: an auxiliary, then a past participle.
The two steps
- Step 1 — the auxiliary. Conjugate avoir or être in the present.
- Most verbs use avoir; a small closed group (verbs of movement / change of state) and all reflexive verbs use être.
- Step 2 — the past participle. Form it from the infinitive: -er → -é (parlé), -ir → -i (fini), -re → -u (vendu).
- Add a set of high-frequency irregulars you just learn.
| Personne | avec AVOIR (manger) | avec ÊTRE (aller) |
|---|---|---|
| je / j' | j'ai mangé | je suis allé(e) |
| tu | tu as mangé | tu es allé(e) |
| il / elle / on | il a mangé | elle est allée |
| nous | nous avons mangé | nous sommes allé(e)s |
| vous | vous avez mangé | vous êtes allé(e)(s) |
| ils / elles | ils ont mangé | elles sont allées |
| Infinitive ending | Participle rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -er | → -é | parler → parlé · manger → mangé |
| -ir | → -i | finir → fini · choisir → choisi |
| -re | → -u | vendre → vendu · attendre → attendu |
| irregular | (learn it) | faire → fait · prendre → pris · voir → vu · être → été · avoir → eu |
Which verbs take ÊTRE? DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP: A small, closed group of verbs of movement and change of state takes être (not avoir). Memorise them with the name DR MRS VANDERTRAMP. All reflexive verbs also take être (je me suis levé(e)).
DR MRS VANDERTRAMP
- Devenir
- Revenir
- Monter
- Rester
- Sortir
- Venir
- Aller
- Naître
- Descendre
- Entrer
- Rentrer
- Tomber
- Retourner
- Arriver
- Mourir
- Partir
With être, the participle agrees: With être, the past participle agrees with the subject: +e (feminine), +s (plural), +es (feminine plural) → elle est allée, ils sont allés, elles sont allées. With avoir, the participle does not agree with the subject.
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Three classic jobs: The passé composé reports finished events. Here are the three uses you meet most in the exam, each with a French example.
Emplois du passé composé
- A single completed action — Hier soir, j'ai fini mon projet. (Last night I finished my project.)
- A sequence of events, one after another — Je suis arrivé, j'ai salué tout le monde et je me suis assis. (I arrived, greeted everyone and sat down.)
- An action at a specific time — Tout à coup, le téléphone a sonné. (Suddenly the phone rang.)
- An action lasting a defined period — J'ai habité à Paris pendant deux ans. (I lived in Paris for two years.)
Complete = passé composé: Ask: did the action finish? If yes, and you can see its start and end, use the passé composé. In every case the action is complete: you can picture it as a single, closed box on a timeline.
Signal words
- Strong signals that the event is closed and complete → passé composé: hier, lundi dernier, tout à coup, une fois.
- The opposite signals point to the imperfect instead: souvent, tous les jours, quand j'étais petit.
An anecdote, sentence by sentence: Here's a short past anecdote built one sentence at a time. Every verb reports a completed action in the passé composé.
What to watch
- Some verbs take avoir: j'ai pris, nous avons mangé.
- Some take être with agreement: je suis allé(e), nous sommes rentré(e)s.
- Read it once for the meaning, then tap Voir la traduction for the English or the audio button to hear it.
Le passé composé en action
Une anecdote, phrase par phrase
- Hier, je suis allé(e) chez mes grands-parents à la campagne.
- J'ai pris le train de huit heures et je suis arrivé(e) à midi.
- Nous avons mangé ensemble et ma grand-mère m'a montré de vieilles photos.
- Tout à coup, il a commencé à pleuvoir, alors nous sommes rentré(e)s tôt.
- Le soir, j'ai écrit dans mon journal et je me suis endormi(e) très vite.
Steal this for your story: Notice the pattern: a time marker (hier, tout à coup, le soir) + an auxiliary (ai / suis / avons / sommes) + a past participle for each finished step. String a few together and you have a ready-made past anecdote for the writing task.
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The slips to watch for: Passé-composé mistakes cluster around three things: forgetting the auxiliary, picking the wrong auxiliary (avoir where être is needed), and forgetting the agreement with être. Compare the right version with the typical mistake and the fix becomes obvious.
Correct
- Hier, j'ai mangé une pizza.
- Elle est allée au cinéma.
- Nous sommes rentrés tard.
Erreur fréquente
- Hier, je mangé une pizza.
- Elle a allé au cinéma.
- Nous sommes rentré tard.
Auxiliary, then agreement: Before you move on, check the three things below. Tick those three and the form is right.
The three checks
- (1) Is there an auxiliary (ai / as / a / avons / avez / ont — or suis / es / est / sommes / êtes / sont)?
- (2) Did you pick the right one — être for the DR MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs and all reflexives, avoir for the rest?
- (3) With être, does the participle agree with the subject (allée, rentrés)?