LE PASSÉ COMPOSÉTHE PERFECT TENSE

Talking about actions, completed in the past

USING THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ

How do we talk about things in the past in English?

Here are a few examples:1 I have eaten my breakfast2 You have sold (your cds)3 They have finished their homework

Type anything you notice in the box below:I notice…

HOW IT WORKS IN FRENCH

Now here are a few sentences in French:1 J’ai mangé le petit déjeuner2 Tu as vendu tes CDs!3 Ils ont fini leurs devoirs

Can you guess what the above sentences mean?123

SO WHAT’S THE RULE?

J’ai mangé le petit déjeuner

1. The verb “avoir” (to have)in the right form

2. The action in the past (the past participle)

I have eaten my breakfast

Your turn - use arrows to link!

Tu as vendu tes cds!

1. The verb “avoir” (to have)in the right form

You have sold your cds

2. The action in the past (the past participle)

Your turn - use arrows and colours to link!

Ils ont fini leurs devoirs

1. The verb “avoir” (to have)in the right form

They have finished their homework

2. The action in the past (the past participle)

SUMMARY SO FAR

WHAT HAVE WE FOUND SO FAR? You need 2 things to talk in the past -

what are they?

NOW SEE IF YOU ARE RIGHT!

1. …... 2. …..

THE TWO THINGS ARE….

1. The verb “avoir” (to have)

in the right form

2. The action in the past (the past

participle)

1. THE VERB AVOIR - TO HAVE

J’ai I haveTu as You have (singular)Il/Elle/On a He/she/one has

Nous avons We haveVous avez You have (plural)Ils/Elles ont They have

Can you remember the parts of avoir?

2. THE ACTION IN THE PAST (PAST PARTICIPLE)

Can you see a pattern?• Verb Past participle• Manger Mangé• Danser Dansé

• Vendre Vendu• Perdre Perdu

• Finir Fini• Servir Servi

The patterns I see...

2. THE ACTION IN THE PAST (THE PAST PARTICIPLE)

Were you right?• With ER verbs (e.g. Manger/Danser),

take off the ER and add É to form the past participle

• With RE verbs (e.g. Vendre/Perdre), take off the RE and add U to form the past participle

• With IR verbs (e.g. finir/Servir), take off the IR and add I to form the past participle

2. ACTION IN THE PAST

A few verbs do not follow this rule, and have to be remembered separately. Here are some you will use regularly:• Verb Past part. Example• Faire (to do) Fait J’ai fait (I have done)• Avoir (to have) Eu J’ai eu (I have

had)• Être (to be) Été J’ai été (I have been)• Prendre (to take) Pris J’ai pris (I have

taken)

NOW FOR PRACTICE

The key things to remember:• You need to know the verb “avoir” (to

have)• You need to know the past participle of

the verb These rules apply to 95% of all verbs

in French! You will learn later how the other 5%

work! Now for some practice!

TASKS

a) Remembering the verb “avoir” b) Re-ordering sentences in the past c) Finding past participles d) You create

A) Remembering the verb avoir

Trouvez la bonne réponse:• e.g. Je ai J’ai J’as

• i) Tu as Tu a Tu es

• ii) Il as Il a Ile a

• iii) Nous avons Nous ont Nous

sommes

• iv) Vous avex Vous a Vous

avez

• v) Elles ont Elles sont Elle ont

A) Remembering the verb avoir..

J’__ I haveTu __ You have (singular)Il/Elle/On _ He/she/one has

Nous _____ We haveVous ____ You have (plural)Ils/Elles ___ They have

Fill in the gaps (without looking back if possible!)

B) Reordering sentences in the past

Mettez dans le bon ordre:• e.g. ai / visité / la / Tour Eiffel / J’

– J’ai visité la Tour Eiffel

• i) Il / joué / football / au / a– …

• ii) Nous / mangé / du / avons / pain– …

• iii) ont / décidé / au / ils / cinéma / d’aller– ...

C) Match up the past participles

VERB MEANING PAST PARTICIPLE EXAMPLE

Lire To read J’ai lu

Nager To swim nagé

Boire To drink Il a bu

Faire To do

lubu Nous avons bu faitElle a fait

D) You create

On a separate sheet in Word or Powerpoint create your own page to remember how to form the passé composé for the majority of verbs

To remind you , include• the verb avoir• lots of examples• how to form the “past particple”

Refer back to the slides here to help you!