I) Le passé composé

Le passé composé is the past tense for COMPLETED ACTIONS. It expresses an action that

began and ended at a definite point in the past (or an action that was repeated a SPECIFIC

number of times).

Note: When describing actions in the past with le passé composé, you must use a “helping

verb”, a verb that comes before the past participle and is conjugated in the present tense.

There are two helping verbs to choose from: “avoir” or “être”. Certain verbs which you are using

in the past will use a certain helping verb. To know whether or not a verb in the past uses

“avoir” or “être”, you should refer to the list of DRMRSVANDERTRAMPP verbs.

DRMRSVANDERTRAMPP is an acronym with verbs that use “être” as the helping verb. Let’s

first look at passé composé using the helping verb avoir:

How to form the past tense with avoir:

Step 1) Conjugate avere in present tense with accordance with the subject:

Avoir (present tense)

j’ai Nous avons

Tu as Vous avez

Il/Elle a Ils ont

Step 2) Create/use the verb’s past participle. To create the past participle, if it’s a verb which

ends in -er change the ending to “é”, if the verb ends in -ir change its ending to “i”, and if the

verb ends in -re change the ending to “u”.

Ex: I danced = j’ai dansé

Note: Some past participles are irregular and don’t follow the “é/i/u” rule listed in step 2. Here

are some irregular past participles which take avoir as the helping verb:

Devoir (to have to) - dû

Boire (to drink) - bu

Croire (to believe) - cru

Voir (to see) - vu

Lire (to read) - lu

Pouvoir (to be able to) - pu

Vouloir (to want) - voulu

Recevoir (to receive) - reçu

Avoir (to have) - eu

Prendre (to take) - pris

Apprendre (to learn) - appris

Comprendre (to understand) - compris

Mettre (to put) - mis

Dire (to say) - dit

Écrire (to write) - écrit

Conduire (to drive) - conduit

Être (to be) - été

Faire (to do) - fait

Ouvrir (to open) - ouvert
Suivre (to follow) - suivi

Savoir (to know information) - su

Connaître (to know/be familiar) - connu

How to form passé composé with Être:

Step 1) Conjugate essere in accordance with the subject

Être

Je suis Nous sommes

Tu es Vous êtes

Il/Elle est Ils/Elles sont

Step 2) Create/use the verb’s past participle. To create the past participle, there are some

similarities to forming it with avoir. If it’s a verb which ends in -er change the ending to “é”, if the

verb ends in -ir change its ending to “i”, and if the verb ends in -re change the ending to “u”.

HOWEVER, there is a difference in the rules. The endings of “é/i/u” must agree with gender

and number of the subject.

Example: He goes = Il est allé

She goes = Elle est allée

We (men) go = Nous sommes allés

We (women) go = Nous sommes allées

Note: Here are the DRMRSVANDERTRAMPP verbs which use Être as their helping verb. The

ones in bold/italics have irregular past participles.

Devenir - devenu

Revenir - revenu

Mourir - mort

Rester

Sortir

Venir - venu

Arriver

Naître - né

Descendre

Entrer

Rentrer

Tomber

Retourner

Aller

Monter

Partir

Passer

Note: All reflexive verbs take Être - Ex: She got dressed = Elle s’est habillée

II) L’imparfait
When do you use the imperfect tense? - the imperfect tense is another way of forming the past

tense aside from the passé composé. You use the passé composé when describing a

completed action in the past that occured a specified amount of times. However, if you are

describing something in the past that you “used to do” (an unspecified number of times), your

age in the past, the time in the past, the weather in the past, or a description of something in the

past, you use l’imparfait.

How to form the imperfect tense:

Step 1) Get the verb in the present tense “nous” form

Step 2) Drop the “ons” and add: ais, ais, ait, ions, iez, aient

Ex: We used to choose = Je choisissais

Note: être is irregular in the imperfect tense: étais, étais, était, étions, étiez, étaient

III) Le futur

The future tense is used to express something that “will” happen.

How do you form it?

Step 1) Take the infinitive of the verb if the verb end in -er or -ir. If the verb ends in -re, drop the

last -e

Step 2) Add the ending in accordance to the subject of the verb:

ai ons

as ez

a ont
Ex: I will play - Je jouerai

She will return the book - Elle rendra le livre

Note: Below is a list of irregular stems for le futur. Simply add the correct ending after the stem.

Aller (to go) = ir-

Avoir (to have) = aur-

Devoir (to have to)= devr-

Être (to be) = ser-

Envoyer (to send) = enverr-

Faire (to do/make) = fer-

Pouvoir (to be able to) = pourr-

Recevoir (to receive) = recevr-

Savoir (to know information) = saur-

Venir (to come) = viendr-

Voir (to see) = verr-

Vouloir (to want) = voudr-

Ex: I will go to France = J’irai en France

IV) Le Conditionnel

Use the conditional tense whenever you want to say “would”. Just like the future tense, keep

the infinitive for -er and -ir verbs, but drop the -e in -re verbs. Then add the correct ending. The
conditional tense endings are: -ais, -ais, -ait, -ions, -iez, -aient. All irregular stems are the same

as those for the future tense.

Ex: I would punish = Je punirais

She would sell = Elle vendrait