Regular verbs follow a prescribed set of rules for the formation of the past participle, whereas irregular verbs (discussed in the following section) must be memorized. N'a‐t‐il pas attendu? (Didn't he wait for the others?) N'as‐tu rien mangé? (Didn't you eat anything?)Ī‐t‐il attendu les autres? (Did he wait for the others?) Then place the negative around the hyphenated helping verb and subject pronoun: To form a question in the passé composé using inversion, invert the conjugated helping verb with the subject pronoun and add a hyphen. Questions in the passé composé with avoir In a negative sentence in the passé composé, ne precedes the helping verb, and the negative word ( pas, rien, jamais, and so on follows it: (I heard the news.)įorming the negative in the passé composé with avoir

Here are some examples of the passé composé.Įlle a expliqué son problème. The passé composé, a compound past tense, is formed by combining two elements: when (the action has taken place and, therefore, requires the helping verb avoir) and what (the action that has happened and, therefore, requires the past participle of the regular or irregular verb showing the particular action). Put the words together this way: subject + helping verb (usually avoir) + past participle. To form the passé composé of verbs using avoir, conjugate avoir in the present tense (j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont) and add the past participle of the verb expressing the action. Although English usage often omits the use of “have” when it is implied (You may say, “I lost my keys” and not, “I have lost my keys”), in French, you must always use the helping verb: J'ai perdu mes clefs. Using avoir as the helping verb is a logical choice in a tense that expresses an action that has occurred. French I: The Future and the Conditional.Prepositions with Geographical Locations.

Comparative and Superlative Expressions.

Forming Plural from Singular Adjectives.

Changing Masculine to Singular Feminine.

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