The Perfect Tense

The two auxillary verbs used are Avoir and Etre.

Avoir-Etre

J'ai-Je suis

Tu as-Tu es

Il/elle a-Il/elle est

Nous avons-Nous sommes

Vous avez-Vous etes

Ils/elles ont-Il/elle sont

After chosing the correct form of the auxillary verb the past participle of the verb must be added.

To form the past participle of an -er verb:

Take off the -er and add -e(acute)     Manger-Mange(e is acute)

To form the past participle of an -ir verb:

Take off the -ir and add i                   Finir-Fini

To form the past participle of an -re verb:

Take off the -re and add u                Perdre-Perdu

Some verbs do not follow the patterns for forming the past participle. They have to be learnt.

Avoir- Eu

Boir- Bu

Voir- Vu

Prendre- Pris

Apprendre- Appris

Mettre- Mis

Faire- Fait

Take the correct present tense of the auxillary verb. If you are speaking about yourself you would use Je and for a girl use elle etc. Then the past participle is added to the end.

She lost her sandwich

Elle a perdu sa sandwich.

Only a limited amount of verbs take etre in the past tense. The acronym MRS VANDER TRAMP is used to remember them.

Mourir
Rester
Sortir

Venir
Aller
Naitre
Descendre
Entrer
Retourner

Tomber
Rentrer
Arriver
Monter
Partir

If a verb takes Etre then extra letters must be added on after the past participle to make the subject agree.

If the subject is feminine add an -e to the past participle- partie

If it is plural add an -s to the past participle- partis

If it is both then add -es to the past participle- parties