Compound past tense
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French has several different past tenses, and the most important one is the passé composé. Just to make things interesting, it has three possible English equivalents:
| 1. | j’ai visité | I visited | simple past | ||
| 2. | j’ai visité | I have visited | present perfect | ||
| 3. | j’ai visité | I did visit | past emphatic |
The passé composé is used when talking about
Completed actions
| Oui, j’ai visité le Canada. | Yes, I did visit Canada. |
Repeated actions
| Je l’ai visité 3 fois. | I’ve visited it 3 times. |
Series of actions
| J’ai visité le Canada et puis je suis allé aux USA. | I visited Canadan and then I went to the US. |
Condition in likely situations (si clauses)
| Si tu as perdu, tu dois féliciter le gagnant. | If you lost, you have to congratulate the winner. |
The passé composé is often used alongside the imperfect, which can be very confusing for French students. For detailed info, see passé composé vs imparfait.
Passé composé quizzes
Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on the passé composé with these fill-in-the-blank exercises:
Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless French account to take these tests. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!
Related lessons
- Using the passé composé – PwLF super list
- Passé composé conjugations
- Avoir vs être
- Passé composé vs imparfait
- Passé récent
- Passé simple
- Introduction to verbs
French lesson plans
- Avoir, Être et le Passé composé (Lesson, 6th-8th grade)
- En vacances (Lesson, 9th-12th grade)
- Hobbies (Worksheet, 8th-9th grade)
- Passé composé (Lesson, 6th-8th grade)
- Passé composé (Powerpoint, 6th-9th grade)
- Passé composé (Worksheet, 6th-12th grade)
- Passé composé (verbes avec auxiliaire avoir) (Worksheet, 9th-12th grade)
- Qui veut jouer avec moi ? (Lesson, 7th grade)
En español
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