Verbs: Perfect Tense

01

Formation

This tense is "composed" of two parts:

1. The auxiliary verb (helper verb), which is the present tense form of either avoir or être.

2. The past participle of the main verb.

• J'ai mangé une pomme.

  I ate an apple.

• Il est parti hier.

  He left yesterday.

02

Choosing the Auxiliary: Avoir

The vast majority of French verbs use avoir as their auxiliary. You simply conjugate avoir in the present tense and add the past participle.

• J'ai fini mon travail.

  I finished my work.

• Nous avons regardé la télé.

  We watched TV.

• Ils ont acheté une voiture.

  They bought a car.

03

Choosing the Auxiliary: Être

A specific group of verbs uses être instead of avoir. These generally describe movement, a change of state, or a change of place. A common mnemonic to remember these is "Dr. & Mrs. Vandertramp," where each letter stands for one of the verbs.

The primary verbs requiring être are:

• aller (to go) and venir (to come)
• arriver (to arrive) and partir (to leave)
• entrer (to enter) and sortir (to go out)
• monter (to go up) and descendre (to go down)
• naître (to be born) and mourir (to die)
• rester (to stay) and tomber (to fall)
• retourner (to return)

Additionally, all reflexive verbs (verbs with se, like se laver) always use être.

• Je suis allé au cinéma.

  I went to the cinema.

• Elle s'est réveillée tôt.

  She woke up early.

04

Regular Past Participles

To form the past participle for regular verbs, you modify the verb ending based on its group:

• -er verbs: Replace -er with -é (parler → parlé)
• -ir verbs: Replace -ir with -i (finir → fini)
• -re verbs: Replace -re with -u (vendre → vendu)

• Tu as parlé à ton ami.

  You spoke to your friend.

• J'ai choisi ce livre.

  I chose this book.

• Il a répondu au téléphone.

  He answered the phone.

05

Irregular Past Participles

Many common verbs have irregular past participles that do not follow the patterns above. These must be memorized individually.

Common irregulars include:

• avoir → eu
• être → été
• faire → fait
• prendre → pris
• voir → vu
• mettre → mis

• J'ai fait un gâteau.

  I made a cake.

• Nous avons eu de la chance.

  We were lucky (literally: We had luck).

• Elle a pris le bus.

  She took the bus.

06

Agreement with Être

When a verb uses être as the auxiliary, the past participle functions like an adjective: it must agree in gender and number with the subject.

• If the subject is feminine, add -e.
• If the subject is plural, add -s.
• If the subject is feminine plural, add -es.

• Il est allé.

  He went. (Masculine singular: no change)

• Elle est allée.

  She went. (Feminine singular: add -e)

• Ils sont allés.

  They went. (Masculine/Mixed plural: add -s)

• Elles sont allées.

  They went. (Feminine plural: add -es)

Note that verbs using avoir generally do not change their past participle to match the subject.

• Elle a mangé.

  She ate. (No agreement with 'Elle')

07

Negation

To make a sentence negative in the perfect tense, place ne and pas around the auxiliary verb, not the past participle.

• Je n'ai pas fini.

  I have not finished.

• Il n'est pas venu.

  He did not come.