Compound past tense
French has several different past tenses, but the most important one is the passé composé. Just to make things interesting, it has three possible English equivalents:
| 1. | j’ai mangé | I ate | simple past | ||
| 2. | j’ai mangé | I have eaten | present perfect | ||
| 3. | j’ai mangé | I did eat | past emphatic |
The passé composé is used when talking about
Completed actions
| Oui, j’ai mangé à 8h. | Yes, I did eat at 8am. |
Repeated actions
| J’y ai mangé 3 fois. | I’ve eaten there 3 times. |
Series of actions
| J’ai mangé et puis je suis sorti avec Paul. | I ate, then I went out with Paul. |
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.
| PwLF passé composé quizzes |
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)
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