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) Show all Hide French Hide English | Sons (audio) | Anglais (English) Show all Hide English Hide French |
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) Show all Hide French Hide English | Sons (audio) | Anglais (English) Show all Hide English Hide French |
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) Show all Hide French Hide English | Sons (audio) | Anglais (English) Show all Hide English Hide French |
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) Show all Hide French Hide English | Sons (audio) | Anglais (English) Show all Hide English Hide French |
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 dû | 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.
Next lesson
Learn and practise more about avoir in the present tense.