Avec les Verbes au Passé (With Past Tenses)

Learning ObjectivesI can talk about past events using the passé composé (past tense) with 'avoir' (to have).I can form the past participle of regular -er, -ir, and -re verbs.I can correctly conjugate 'avoir' (to have) as a helping verb in the passé composé (past tense).I can describe what I did yesterday or last weekend.Imagine your friend asks you: « Qu'est-ce que tu as fait hier? » (What did you do yesterday?) [kess-kuh too ah fay ee-AIR]. 🤔 You could answer: « J'ai joué au hockey et j'ai mangé de la poutine! » (I played hockey and I ate poutine!) [zhay zhway oh ock-AY ay zhay mahn-ZHAY duh lah poo-TEEN]. 🏒🍟 This lesson will teach you how to form these sentences to share your memories.Real-World ApplicationsTelling your friends about your weekend.Writing about your day in a diary.Unde...

To talk about the past, we often use the passé composé (past tense) [pass-AY com-poh-ZAY]. It's made of two parts: the helping verb avoir (to have) [ah-VWAR] and the participe passé (past participle) [par-tee-SEEP pass-AY] of the main verb. Here are some important verbs:French (Infinitive)Past ParticipleExamplemanger (to eat) [mahn-ZHAY]mangé (eaten) [mahn-ZHAY]Hier, j'ai mangé une pomme. (Yesterday, I ate an apple.) [ee-AIR, zhay mahn-ZHAY oon pom] 🍎jouer (to play) [zhway]joué (played) [zhway]Nous avons joué au soccer. (We played soccer.) [nooz ah-vohn zhway oh soccer] ⚽regarder (to watch) [ruh-gar-DAY]regardé (watched) [ruh-gar-DAY]Tu as regardé un film. (You watched a movie.) [too ah ruh-gar-DAY uhn film] 🎬finir (to finish) [fee-NEER]fini (finished) [fee-NEE]Elle a fini son devoir. (...

1. The Structure of the Passé Composé with 'avoir'Rule: Subject + avoir (to have) [ah-VWAR] (in the present tense) + Past ParticipleExample: J'ai mangé (I ate) [zhay mahn-ZHAY].J' (I) [zhuh] (subject)ai (have) [ay] (the verb avoir in the present tense for 'I')mangé (eaten) [mahn-ZHAY] (the past participle of the verb manger (to eat))2. Forming the Past ParticipleRule: For regular verbs:• Verbs ending in -er → -é (e.g., parler (to speak) [par-LAY] → parlé (spoken) [par-LAY])• Verbs ending in -ir → -i (e.g., finir (to finish) [fee-NEER] → fini (finished) [fee-NEE])• Verbs ending in -re → -u (e.g., attendre (to wait for) [ah-TAHN-druh] → attendu (waited for) [ah-tahn-DEW])The past participle doesn't change to match the subject when you use the helping verb 'avoir' (for now).