The passé composé: two pieces and an auxiliary you have to choose
CEFR A1
What you will learn
- Build the passé composé with a conjugated auxiliary and a past participle.
- Choose être with the basic group that requires it and apply elementary agreement.
The idea
French very often uses two pieces for a completed everyday event: “avoir” or “être” plus the participle; the auxiliary is part of the construction.
First the participle. Verbs in “-er” make it in “-é” — “mangé”, “parlé” — second-group verbs in “-i” — “fini”, “choisi” — and the rest go their own way: “vu”, “pris”, “fait”, “écrit”. Those last ones are learnt one at a time.
Most verbs use “avoir”: “j’ai mangé”, “nous avons fini”. At this level you also learn a frequent group that uses “être”, including “aller, venir, partir, arriver, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, naître, mourir, passer” and “retourner”. Some switch to “avoir” when used with a direct object; that contrast appears below.
With “être” the participle behaves like an adjective and agrees with the subject: “elle est partie”, “ils sont arrivés”, “elles sont allées”. With “avoir”, in the ordinary sentence, the participle does not change: “elle a mangé”, not “mangée”.
With “avoir”, participle agreement has an additional case studied later. Here, keep two decisions separate: choose the auxiliary required by the verb and, when it is “être”, make the participle agree with the subject.
Passé composé formation
| construction | forme | accord |
|---|---|---|
| most verbs | avoir au présent + participe passé | pas d'accord avec le sujet |
| basic être group | être au présent + participe passé | accord avec le sujet |
| pronominal verb | être au présent + participe passé | accord à vérifier |
| -er / -ir / -re | -é / -i / -u | parlé / fini / vendu |
How it sounds
- J'ai mangé une pomme.Auxiliary “avoir”, which is the ordinary case.
- Elle est partie à huit heures.“Partir” is on the “être” list, and the participle agrees: “partie”.
- Ils sont arrivés hier soir.Masculine plural subject: the participle adds an “-s”.
- Nous avons fini le travail.With “avoir” the participle stays put, whoever the subject is.
Your turn
Two or three, to check that the bit above landed.
Elle ___ partie très tôt ce matin.
est — “Partir” takes “être”, and the subject is singular.
Nous ___ fini le travail.
avons — “Finir” takes “avoir”, and “nous” calls for “avons”.
J'ai ___ une pomme dans le train.
mangé — After the auxiliary comes the participle, not the infinitive.
When it doesn't hold
What breaks the rule, said out loud. Hiding it is what makes you feel cheated in the exam.
- “Sortir, monter, descendre, passer” and “rentrer” switch to “avoir” when they take a direct object, and the meaning shifts with it.J'ai sorti la poubelle.
- Every verb that carries a pronoun — “se lever”, “se laver” — takes “être”, with no exceptions.Je me suis levé à six heures.
What your own language pushes you to say
Wrong J'ai allé au cinéma hier.
Right Je suis allé au cinéma hier.
The English perfect uses “have”, which can tempt you to write “j’ai allé”. French “aller” takes “être”: “je suis allé”. The French passé composé can correspond to both an English simple past and an English present perfect, depending on context.
Curriculum alignment and sources
- CEFR A1 · elementary repertoire for concrete needs and very simple interaction. · Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Companion Volume
- MCER como referencia; sin asignación estatal A1 por curso. · Real Decreto 217/2022, currículo básico de ESO
- A1 al final de classe terza; A1.1/A1.2 son subdivisiones editoriales. · Decreto 9 dicembre 2025, n. 221 · nuove Indicazioni nazionali
Once it makes sense
Practise this: Passé composé: avoir or être?Gender and the article: le, la, l', un, uneThe present tense and the explicit subjectTwo-part negation: ne… pas wraps around the verbAccents and the cedilla: they do not tell you where the stress fallsDu, de la, des: the article your language leaves outAu, aux, du, des: when à and de collide with the article