Learn about regular and irregular verbs using avoir in the perfect tense – le passé composé in French.

Le passé composé is a tense that you’ll use to talk about something that happened in the past. To be able to form le passé composé – the perfect tense in French, you will need to know avoir – to have or être – to be in the present tense as well as the participe passé – the past participle of the verbs. You’ll see some regular verbs examples below as well as a few irregular ones that you will need to learn. In this lesson, we will focus on the verbs using avoir.

-ER verbs

Let’s start with some verbs ending in -ER like , manger (to eat), jouer (to play), aimer (to like). You’ll need to use avoir in the present tense and add the past participle of the verb. If you want to say, “I have played” or “I played”, you need to know:

  • I have = J’ai
  • the past participle of “to play” is played . In French, past participles of regular verbs ending in er will lose their ending and will be replaced by é.

See some examples below:

J'ai manger X mangé √ jouer X joué √ aimer X aimé √

Français (French)
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J'ai aimé
I have liked or I liked
Tu as aimé
You have liked or you liked
Il a aimé
He has liked or he liked
Elle a aimé
She has liked or she liked
On a aimé
One has liked or one liked
Nous avons aimé
We have liked or we liked
Vous avez aimé
You have liked or you liked (More than one or formal)
Ils ont aimé
They have liked or they liked (male or male and female)
Elles ont aimé
They have liked or they liked (female only)

-IR verbs

Let’s look at some verbs ending in -IR like , finir (to finish), mentir (to lie), choisir (to choose). You’ll need to use avoir in the present tense and add the past participle of the verb. If you want to say, “I have finished” or “I finished”, you need to know:

  • I have = J’ai
  • the past participle of “to finish” is finished . In French, past participles of regular verbs ending in ir will lose their ending and will be replaced by i.

See some examples below:

J'ai finir X fini √ mentir X menti √ choisir X choisi √

Français (French)
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J'ai choisi
I have chosen or I chose
Tu as choisi
You have chosen or you chose
Il a choisi
He has chosen or he chose
Elle a choisi
She has chosen or she chose
On a choisi
One has chosen or one chose
Nous avons choisi
We have chosen or we chose
Vous avez choisi
You have chosen or you chose (More than one or formal)
Ils ont choisi
They have chosen or they chose (male or male and female)
Elles ont choisi
They have chosen or they chose (female only)

-Re verbs

Let’s look at some verbs ending in -RE like, entendre (to hear), perdre (to lose), attendre (to wait), vendre (to sell). You’ll need to use avoir in the present tense and add the past participle of the verb. If you want to say, “I have heard” or “I heard”, you need to know:

  • I have = J’ai
  • the past participle of “to hear” is heard . In French, past participles of regular verbs ending in re will lose their ending and will be replaced by u.

See some examples below:

J'ai entendre X entendu √ attendre X attendu √ vendre X vendu √

Français (French)
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J'ai vendu
I have sold or I sold
Tu as vendu
You have sold or you sold
Il a vendu
He has sold or he sold
Elle a vendu
She has sold or she sold
On a vendu
One has sold or one sold
Nous avons vendu
We have sold or we sold
Vous avez vendu
You have sold or you sold (More than one or formal)
Ils ont vendu
They have sold or they sold (male or male and female)
Elles ont vendu
They have sold or they sold (female only)

Irregular verbs

There are quite a few irregular verbs. For those you will need to learn their past participles since they won’t follow the same patterns as explained previously. Look at the table below and make sure you know as many of them.

J'ai avoir X eu √ être X été √ faire X fait √ ouvrir X ouvert √ prendre X pris √ mettre X mis √ suivre X suivi √ boire X bu √ croire X cru √ voir X vu √ savoir X su √ connaître X connu √ dire X dit √ lire X lu √ écrire X écrit √ pouvoir X pu √ vouloir X voulu √ devoir X dû √ tenir X tenu √

Français (French)
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Avoir - J'ai eu
To have - I have had or I had
Être - Tu as été
To be - You have been or you were
Faire - Il a fait
To do - He has done or he did
Ouvrir - Elle a ouvert
To open - She has opened or she opened
Prendre - On a pris
To take - One has taken or one took
Mettre - Nous avons mis
To put - We have put or we put
Suivre - Vous avez suivi
To follow - You have followed or you followed (More than one or formal)
Boire - Ils ont bu
To drink - They have drank or they drunk (male or male and female)
Croire - Elles ont cru
To believe - They have believed or they believed (female only)
Voir - J'ai vu
To see - I have seen or I saw
Savoir - Tu as su
To know - You have known or you knew
Connaître - Il a connu
To know - He has known or he knew
Dire - elle a dit
To say - She has said or she said
Lire - On a lu
To read - One has read or one read
Écrire - Nous avons écrit
To write - We have written or we wrote
Pouvoir - Vous avez pu
To be able to - You have been able to or you were abe to(More than one or formal)
Vouloir - Ils ont voulu
To want - They have wanted or they wanted (male or male and female)
Devoir - Elles ont
To have to - They have had to or they had to (female only)
Tenir - J'ai tenu
To hold - I have held or I held
Recevoir - Tu as reçu
To receive - You have received or you received

Elsewhere on the web - BBC Bitesize

Check the BBC Bitesize guide about verbs in the perfect tense.

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Next lesson

Learn and practise more about avoir in the present tense.

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