Perfect Participle Conjugations

Conjugaisons du passé composé du participe présent

French perfect participle
Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

The perfect participle is a compound verb form, which means its conjugation has two components:

  verb conjugation
1. auxiliary (avoir or être) present participle
2. main verb past participle

Par exemple…

Avoir verb: donner (to give)

avoir donné

Être verb: sortir (to go out)

être sorti(e)(s)

Pronominal verb: s’habiller (to get dressed)

s’être habillé(e)(s)

 Since the auxiliary verb is in the present participle, the perfect participle conjugation for avoir verbs is the same for all subject pronouns.

Par exemple…

Ayant peigné ses cheveux, je suis parti.   Having combed her hair, I left.
After coming her hair, I left.
Ayant peigné ses cheveux, nous sommes partis.   Having combed her hair, we left.
After combing her hair, we left.

In the case of être verbs, agreement of the past participle is required.

Par exemple…

Étant tombée, elle a commencé à pleurer.   Having fallen, she started to cry.
After falling, she started to cry.
Étant tombés, nous avons commencé à pleurer.   Having fallen, we started to cry.
After falling, we started to cry.

Agreement is also required for pronominal verbs, plus the reflexive pronoun must agree with the implied subject.

S’étant levée à midi, elle était en retard.   Having gotten up at noon, she was late.
Nous étant levés à midi, nous étions en retard.   Having gotten up at noon, we were late.

  Past participle agreement

As in all compound conjugations, the past participle in the perfect participle construction may need to agree in gender and number with the word it modifies – learn more.

 Related lessons

 Share / Tweet / Pin Me!

French perfect participle

Questions about French?

 Visit the Progress with Lawless French Q+A forum to get help from native French speakers and fellow learners.

More Lawless French

 Subscribe to my twice-weekly newsletter.

Support Lawless French

  This free website is created with love and a great deal of work.

If you love it, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation.

Your support is entirely optional but tremendously appreciated.

Leave a Reply