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Level 61 - Perfect Tense (Le Passé Composé) Part 3
The perfect tense is the main past tense we use when we want to talk about what has happened in the past. We have seen how the perfect tense is made - by using the verb avoir 'to have' followed by a past participle. However, a small list of verbs need être 'to be' instead of avoir 'to have' to make the perfect tense. These verbs have something in common - they are 'intransitive', which means they cannot take a direct object afterwards. For example you cannot 'go something' or 'be born something' in the way that you can buy something or look at something. Here is a reminder of the verb être 'to be':
je suis
tu es
il est
elle est
on est
nous sommes
vous êtes
ils sont
elles sont |
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I am
you are
he is, it is (m.)
she is, it is (f.)
one is, we are
we are
you are
they are (m.)
they are (f.) |
Another important difference is in the spelling of the past participle. WIth these verbs that use être the past participle must agree with the person doing the verb. If the person is female or persons are female (elle and elles, but could also be tu, nous and vous) we add the letter e onto the end of the past participle. If they are plural (nous, ils and elles and often vous) we add the letter s onto the end of the past participle. If the doers of the verb are feminine and plural we add es.
Let us now look at the verbs. They can be set out as 5 pairs of opposites, 4 Rs and DTP. It should also be noted that ALL reflexive verbs (see Level 16 for an explanation and list of these) need être to make the perfect tense. See Level 68 for more detailed treatment of this.
Verbs which need être in the perfect tense
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VERB
aller
to go
venir
to come
naître
to be born
mourir
to die
arriver
to arrive
partir
to leave
sortir
to go out
entrer
to enter
monter
to go up
descendre
to go down
rester
to stay
retourner
to return
revenir
to come back
rentrer
to come back / go back
devenir
to become
tomber
to fall
passer
to pass by |
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PAST PARTICIPLE
allé / allée / allés / allées
venu / venue / venus / venues (irregular past participle)
né / née / nés / nées (irregular past participle)
mort / morte / morts / mortes (irregular past participle)
arrivé / arrivée / arrivés / arrivées
parti / partie / partis / parties
sorti / sortie / sortis / sorties
entré / entrée / entrés / entrées
monté / montée / montés / montées
descendu / descendue / descendus / descendues
resté / restée / restés / restées
retourné / retournée / retournés / retournées
revenu / revenue / revenus / revenues
rentré / rentrée / rentrés / rentrées
devenu / devenue / devenus / devenues
tombé / tombée / tombés / tombées
passé / passée / passés / passées |
Examples
je suis allé au zoo
je suis allée à la bibliothèque
tu es venu aussi
tu es venue aussi
il est né en juin
Jean est né en avril
elle est morte en mai
Hélène est morte en janvier
nous sommes arrivés ce matin
nous sommes parties hier
est-ce que vous
êtes sorti?
vous
êtes entrée dans la maison
vous
êtes montés au sommet de la montagne
vous êtes descendues au fond de la colline
ils sont restés dans le café
elles sont retournées
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I went to the zoo
I went to the library (female)
you came too
you came too (female)
he was born in June
Jean was born in April
she died in May
Hélène died in January
we arrived this morning (males / mixture of males and females)
we left yesterday (females)
did you go out? (masculine singular, polite form)
you entered the house (feminine singular, polite form)
you went up to the top of the mountain (males / mixture, plural)
you went down to the bottom of the hill (females, plural)
they stayed in the café (males / mixture of males and females)
they returned (females)
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On ('one' / 'we')
On means 'one' or 'people in general' but many French people use it instead of nous ('we'). In the perfect tense you have a choice whether or not to make the past participle agree if you use on to mean 'we'.
on est revenu
on est revenus
on est revenues
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we came back
we came back (males / mixture of males and females)
we came back (females)
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