1. Le passé composé The Perfect Tense
Talking about events in the past

2. Talking about events in the past
In English, we have many ways of talking about events in the past
I played
I have played
I did play
In French, we can translate all three of the phrases using the same sentence!
French is easy!!

3. Le passé composé
The Perfect Tense in French is made in three simple steps
Find the verb (doing word) you need
Change the way the verb is written
Add a part of the verb avoir (to have) with its subject pronoun (I/You/He/She)

4. Step 1 – Find the verb you are looking for
In order to find the verb we are looking for we must use a…
…DICTIONARY
e.g. To make the sentence ‘I have played’, we will look up ‘play’ in the dictionary.
We will find the word we are looking for next to the letters vi or vt
The word we find is…
jouer
This is called the INFINITIVE

5. Step 1 - Practice
Look up the following words in a French-English dictionary and write down their infinitive forms.
Remember you will find the infinitive form next to the letters vi or vt
1. speak 2. eat 3. visit
4. hate 5. swim 6. do

6. Step 1 – Practice answers
speak
eat
visit
hate
swim do
parler
manger
visiter
détester
nager
faire
You are now ready for step 2

7. Step 2 – Changing the infinitive
Most infinitives end –er (jouer/parler)
In order to make the verb suitable for the perfect tense, we must change this ending
For –er verbs we must…
Take off the –er e.g. jou
Add an é e.g. joué
You have just changed the infinitive into a…
…PAST PARTICIPLE

8. parler manger visiter détester nager parlé mangé visité détesté nagé
Step 2 – Practise Change the infinitive forms from step 1 into past participles
parler
manger
visiter
détester
nager
parlé
mangé
visité
détesté
nagé

9. Step 2 - continued To summarise: infinitives ending –er become -é
infinitives ending –ir replace the –ir with –i
infinitives ending –re replace the –re with –u
However there are some exceptions that need to be learnt!
Some common exceptions
faire (to do) – fait boire (to drink) – bu
avoir (to have) – eu voir (to see) – vu
You are now ready for step 3!

10. Step 3 – add a part of avoir
To complete a sentence in the past you must add a part of the verb avoir-to have
This should by now be familiar to you!!
I have
You (familiar) have
He/she/it has
We have
You (formal/plural) have
They have
J’ai
Tu as
Il/Elle a
Nous avons
Vous avez
Ils/Elles ont

11. Step 3 - Practice Complete the sentences below J’ un chat Tu un stylo?
Il une soeur
Nous un chien
Vous n’ pas de devoirs
Elles une gomme

12. Step 3 – Practice answers
Complete the sentences below
J’ ai un chat
Tu as un stylo?
Il a une soeur
Nous avons un chien
Vous n’ avez pas de devoirs
Elles ont une gomme

13. Step 3 - continued
We are now ready to make sentences in the perfect tense
If we want to translate ‘I have played’ into French:
Find the infinitive jouer
Change it into a past participle joué
Add avoir j’ai joué
Remember, this phrase means I have played,
I played and I did play!!!

14. The Perfect tense - practice
From what you have learnt, can you translate the following sentences?
I spoke French
You ( a friend) have eaten a sandwich
I visited the castle
We hated the cake (le gâteau)
He has swum
They (women) did

15. Answers J’ai parlé français Tu as mangé un sandwich
J’ai visité le château
Nous avons détesté le gâteau
Il a nagé
Elles ont fait

16. Perfect Tense - checklist
Have you found the correct infinitive?
Have you changed the infinitive into a past participle?
Have you added the correct part of avoir?
Are there 2 verbs in your French translation (i.e. a past participle and a part of avoir)?
If you have answered yes then you can make the Perfect Tense – Congratulations