Passé composé with avoir

Kurz erklärt

The passé composé describes completed past actions. Most French verbs form it with the present tense of avoir and a past participle. The auxiliary changes with the subject, while the past participle usually stays the same.

Bildung

subject + present tense of avoir + past participle: j’ai parlé, tu as fini, elle a vendu. Regular endings are -er → -é, -ir → -i, and -re → -u.

Verwendung

• Use it for a completed action: Nous avons réservé une table.
• Use it for a sequence of finished events: Il a appelé et j’ai répondu.
• Common irregular past participles include eu, fait, pris, vu, and lu.

Beispiele

• J’ai acheté du pain ce matin. — I bought some bread this morning.
• Nous avons fini le travail à six heures. — We finished the work at six o’clock.
• Elle a pris le bus hier. — She took the bus yesterday.
• Vous n’avez pas vu mon message ? — Didn’t you see my message?

Typischer Fehler

❌ J’ai manger.

✅ J’ai mangé.

Use a past participle, not an infinitive, after avoir. For -er verbs, the infinitive ending -er changes to -é, even though the two endings sound the same.

Merke

Conjugate avoir; use the past participle for the main action. Learn common irregular participles with each verb.