| 7.1 Formation of the past tenses |
| 7.1.1 The passé composé |
We have already met the passé composé in french survival guide II. We differentiate between transitive (have an object) and intransitive verbs (do not have an object). Transitive verbs form the passé composé with avoir (to have), intransitive verbs with être (to be).
| transitive verbs | |||||
| French | English | ||||
| subject | auxiliary | perfect participle |
subject | auxiliary | perfect participle |
| J' (m) | ai | acheté | I (m) | have | bought. |
| J' (f) | ai | acheté | I(f) | have | bought. |
| Tu (m) | as | acheté | You (m) | have | bought. |
| Tu (f) | as | acheté | You (f) | have | bought. |
| Il | a | acheté | He | has | bought. |
| Elle | a | acheté | She | has | bought. |
| Nous (m) |
avons |
acheté |
We (m) |
have |
bought. |
| Nous (f) | avons | acheté | We (f) | have | bought. |
| Vous (m) |
avez |
acheté. |
You (m) |
have |
bought. |
| Vous (f) | avez | acheté. | You (f) | have | bought. |
| Ils |
ont |
acheté |
They (m) |
have |
bought. |
| Elles | ont | acheté | They (f) | have | bought. |
| intransitive verbs | |||||
| French | English | ||||
| subject | auxiliary | perfect participle |
subject | auxiliary | perfect participle |
| Je (m) | suis | venu. | I (m) | have | come. |
| Je (f) | suis | venue. | I (f) | have | come. |
| Tu (m) | es | venu. | You (m) | have | come. |
| Tu (f) | es | venue. | You (f) | have | come. |
| Il | est | venu. | He | has | come. |
| Elle | est | venue. | She | has | come. |
| Nous (m) |
sommes |
venus. |
We (m) |
have |
come. |
| Nous (f) | sommes | venues. | We (f) | have | come. |
| Vous (m) |
êtes |
venus. |
You (m) |
have |
come. |
| Vous (f) | êtes | venues. | You (f) | have | come. |
| Ils |
sont |
venus. |
They (m) |
have |
come. |
| Elles | sont | venues. | They (f) | have | come. |
Once again we can see that the perfect participle after être changes according to the gender and the number of the person it refers to.
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