The perfect (past) tense with avoir and être
- Created by: umyesok
- Created on: 12-12-17 15:23
When to use the perfect tense
The perfect tense is used to talk about something that happened in the past - an action that is completely finished, eg: she watched TV, she has watched TV.
The perfect tense is sometimes used with time phrases such as:
French English
hier yesterday
hier matin yesterday morning
hier soir yesterday evening
le week-end dernier last weekend
lundi dernier last Monday
la semaine dernière last week
le mois dernier last month
l'année dernière last year
How to form the perfect tense
You need two parts to form the perfect tense:
- the present tense of avoir or être – this is known as an auxiliary verb
- the past participle of the main verb
A past participle is when you take the infinitive of the verb (ie a verb taken straight from the dictionary ending in -er, -ir, -re) and you change it into the past, eg:
- to watch → watched
- to finish → finished
- to sell → sold
Forming the perfect tense with avoir
How to make a past participle for regular verbs used with avoir:
Choose the verb you want to use.
For verbs ending in -er, take off -er and add -é:
parler (to speak) → parl + é → parlé = spoken
For verbs ending in -ir, take off -ir and add -i:
choisir (to choose) → chois + i → choisi = chosen
For verbs ending -re, take off -re and add -u:
vendre (to sell) → vend + u → vendu = sold
How to form the perfect tense with avoir
Once you have formed your past participle, you need to select the correct part of avoir you want to use.
1. You must choose a part of avoir in the present tense, eg:
EnglishSubject pronounAvoir – to have I j’ ai you (informal) tu as he/she/it (we) il/elle/on a we nous avons you (formal, plural) vous avez they ils/elles ont
2. Now add your chosen past participle:
-er verb: parler-ir verb: choisir-re verb: vendre parlé choisi vendu
- j’ai + parlé = I spoke/I have spoken
- nous avons + choisi = we chose/we have…
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