Compound past tense
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
French lesson plans
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