Passé composé

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:

• Anniversaire de mariage
• Le weekend de Paul
• Un bébé remuant

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

• Pretérito  (simple past)
• Pretérito perfecto  (present perfect)
   

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