Grammar / A2 : Elementary / The passé composé with avoir
The passé composé with avoir
Formation and use of the passé composé with the auxiliary avoir.
The past tense you will use most
The avoir lesson mentioned that this verb would reappear as an auxiliary. This is that moment. The passé composé is the past tense you will use most often at A2 level and beyond. It expresses actions that are completed: what you did yesterday, what happened last week, what you ate for breakfast, how many times you visited a city. The structure has two parts: the present tense of avoir and a past participle.
Most French verbs form their passé composé with avoir. A smaller group uses être instead (those are covered in a separate lesson). This lesson focuses entirely on the avoir group, which represents the large majority of verbs you already know.
1. Structure
Subject + avoir (present) + past participle
J'ai mangé. (I ate / I have eaten.)
Elle a travaillé. (She worked.)
Ils ont fini. (They finished.)
| Subject | avoir (present) | Past participle | Full sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| je | j'ai | mangé | J'ai mangé une pizza. (I ate a pizza.) |
| tu | tu as | fini | Tu as fini ton travail ? (Did you finish your work?) |
| il / elle / on | il a | vu | Elle a vu ce film. (She saw this film.) |
| nous | nous avons | pris | Nous avons pris le train. (We took the train.) |
| vous | vous avez | fait | Vous avez fait quoi hier ? (What did you do yesterday?) |
| ils / elles | ils ont | voulu | Ils ont voulu partir tôt. (They wanted to leave early.) |
2. Forming the past participle
The past participle is derived from the infinitive. The rule depends on which group the verb belongs to.
-ER verbs: remove -er, add -é
This covers the vast majority of French verbs. The rule is completely regular.
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| parler | parlé | J'ai parlé avec elle. (I spoke with her.) |
| manger | mangé | Tu as mangé ? (Did you eat?) |
| travailler | travaillé | Elle a travaillé toute la nuit. (She worked all night.) |
| habiter | habité | Nous avons habité à Lyon. (We lived in Lyon.) |
| écouter | écouté | Il a écouté la radio. (He listened to the radio.) |
| voyager | voyagé | Ils ont voyagé en Asie. (They travelled in Asia.) |
Regular -IR verbs: remove -ir, add -i
Regular -IR verbs (the type that makes nous finissons in the present) follow this pattern. Note that irregular -IR verbs like partir, venir, dormir have their own forms covered below.
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| finir | fini | J'ai fini mes devoirs. (I finished my homework.) |
| choisir | choisi | Elle a choisi le menu. (She chose the set menu.) |
| réussir | réussi | Tu as réussi l'examen ? (Did you pass the exam?) |
| grandir | grandi | Il a grandi à Paris. (He grew up in Paris.) |
Regular -RE verbs: remove -re, add -u
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| vendre | vendu | Il a vendu sa voiture. (He sold his car.) |
| attendre | attendu | Nous avons attendu une heure. (We waited an hour.) |
| perdre | perdu | J'ai perdu mes clés. (I lost my keys.) |
| entendre | entendu | Tu as entendu ce bruit ? (Did you hear that noise?) |
3. Irregular past participles
A significant number of common verbs have irregular past participles that must be memorised individually. These are among the most frequently used verbs in French, so you will encounter them constantly (which also makes them easier to retain through regular exposure).
| Infinitive | Past participle | Example |
|---|---|---|
| avoir (to have) | eu | J'ai eu un problème. (I had a problem.) |
| être (to be) | été | Il a été malade. (He was ill.) |
| faire (to do / make) | fait | Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ? (What did you do?) |
| dire (to say) | dit | Il a dit la vérité. (He told the truth.) |
| écrire (to write) | écrit | Elle a écrit une lettre. (She wrote a letter.) |
| prendre (to take) | pris | J'ai pris un café. (I had a coffee.) |
| mettre (to put) | mis | Elle a mis son manteau. (She put on her coat.) |
| voir (to see) | vu | Tu as vu ce film ? (Did you see this film?) |
| lire (to read) | lu | J'ai lu ce livre. (I read this book.) |
| boire (to drink) | bu | Elle a bu un verre de vin. (She drank a glass of wine.) |
| savoir (to know) | su | Je n'ai pas su quoi répondre. (I didn't know what to answer.) |
| pouvoir (can) | pu | Il n'a pas pu venir. (He couldn't come.) |
| vouloir (to want) | voulu | Elle a voulu partir tôt. (She wanted to leave early.) |
| recevoir (to receive) | reçu | J'ai reçu un email. (I received an email.) |
| ouvrir (to open) | ouvert | Il a ouvert la fenêtre. (He opened the window.) |
| offrir (to offer / give) | offert | Elle m'a offert un livre. (She gave me a book.) |
| vivre (to live) | vécu | J'ai vécu deux ans à Tokyo. (I lived in Tokyo for two years.) |
| connaître (to know) | connu | Je l'ai connu à l'université. (I met him at university.) |
| croire (to believe) | cru | J'ai cru que c'était fermé. (I thought it was closed.) |
| suivre (to follow) | suivi | J'ai suivi un cours de français. (I took a French course.) |
💡 Pattern recognition: many irregular past participles follow recognisable groups. Verbs ending in -ire often give -it (dire → dit, écrire → écrit). Verbs ending in -endre / -endre often give -is (prendre → pris, mettre → mis). Verbs ending in -oir often give -u (voir → vu, savoir → su, pouvoir → pu). These are tendencies, not rules; but they help.
4. Negation
In the passé composé, ne goes before the auxiliary and pas goes directly after it (before the past participle). The past participle stays at the end.
Structure: subject + ne + avoir + pas + past participle
| Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|
| J'ai mangé. (I ate.) | Je n'ai pas mangé. (I didn't eat.) |
| Elle a fini. (She finished.) | Elle n'a pas fini. (She didn't finish.) |
| Ils ont vu le film. (They saw the film.) | Ils n'ont pas vu le film. (They didn't see the film.) |
| Tu as compris. (You understood.) | Tu n'as pas compris. (You didn't understand.) |
⚠ pas goes after the auxiliary, never at the very end of the sentence.
❌ Je n'ai mangé pas. · ✓ Je n'ai pas mangé.
❌ Elle n'a fini pas. · ✓ Elle n'a pas fini.
5. Questions
All three question forms work with the passé composé. Inversion places the subject pronoun after the auxiliary, not after the past participle.
| Form | Example |
|---|---|
| Intonation | Tu as mangé ? (Did you eat?) |
| Est-ce que | Est-ce que tu as mangé ? |
| Inversion | As-tu mangé ? (formal) |
| Inversion with noun subject | Marie a-t-elle mangé ? |
Qu'est-ce que tu as fait hier soir ? (What did you do last night?)
Tu as vu Pierre récemment ? (Have you seen Pierre recently?)
Vous avez déjà visité le Japon ? (Have you ever visited Japan?)
À quelle heure est-ce qu'il a appelé ? (What time did he call?)
6. When to use the passé composé
The passé composé is used for actions that are clearly finished and bounded in time. It answers the question: "What happened?" rather than "What was the situation?"
| Use | Example |
|---|---|
| A single completed action | J'ai mangé à midi. (I ate at noon.) |
| A sequence of completed actions | Je me suis levé, j'ai pris un café et je suis parti. |
| An action that happened a specific number of times | J'ai visité Paris trois fois. (I have visited Paris three times.) |
| A change of state | Il a plu toute la journée. (It rained all day.) |
| A completed action with a stated duration | J'ai travaillé pendant six heures. (I worked for six hours.) |
7. Time markers
These expressions frequently accompany the passé composé and help signal that the action is completed.
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| hier | yesterday | Hier, j'ai travaillé jusqu'à vingt heures. |
| avant-hier | the day before yesterday | Il est arrivé avant-hier. |
| la semaine dernière | last week | Elle a appelé la semaine dernière. |
| le mois dernier | last month | J'ai commencé un nouveau travail le mois dernier. |
| l'année dernière | last year | Nous avons voyagé en Europe l'année dernière. |
| il y a + time | ago | Il a appelé il y a dix minutes. |
| ce matin | this morning (if over) | J'ai mangé une brioche ce matin. |
| pendant | for (completed duration) | J'ai attendu pendant une heure. |
| déjà | already / ever | Tu as déjà mangé des escargots ? |
| jamais | never (in negative) | Je n'ai jamais vu ce film. |
8. Agreement of the past participle
With avoir, the past participle does not agree with the subject. This is the key difference from être verbs, where the past participle agrees with the subject every time.
With avoir: no agreement with the subject
Marie a mangé une pomme. (mangé does not take a feminine -e, even though Marie is feminine.)
Ils ont fini. (fini does not add -s for the plural subject.)
💡 Advanced note (there is one case where the past participle does agree with avoir: when a direct object comes before the verb). This happens with object pronouns and relative clauses. The full rule is covered at B1 level, but here is a preview:
J'ai acheté des fleurs. (I bought flowers.) (no agreement, object comes after)
Les fleurs que j'ai achetées sont belles. (The flowers I bought are beautiful.): achetées agrees with fleurs (f. pl.) because the object comes before
At A2 level, the practical rule is: with avoir, do not add any ending to the past participle unless a direct object pronoun precedes the verb.
9. Passé composé and imparfait
French has two main past tenses, and they are not interchangeable. The passé composé describes completed actions and events. The imparfait (covered in the next lesson) describes ongoing situations, habits, and background context. Understanding when to use each is one of the central challenges of A2 French.
A brief preview of the contrast:
Hier, j'ai mangé une pizza. (Yesterday, I ate a pizza.) (passé composé: completed action)
Quand j'étais enfant, je mangeais de la pizza tous les vendredis. (When I was a child, I used to eat pizza every Friday.) (imparfait: repeated habit)
The full contrast between the two tenses is the subject of the imparfait lesson.
10. Key points
✓ Structure: subject + avoir (present) + past participle
✓ -ER verbs: -er → -é (parler → parlé, manger → mangé)
✓ Regular -IR verbs: -ir → -i (finir → fini, choisir → choisi)
✓ Regular -RE verbs: -re → -u (vendre → vendu, attendre → attendu)
✓ Key irregular participles: fait, dit, écrit, pris, mis, vu, lu, bu, eu, été, pu, voulu, ouvert
✓ Negation: ne + auxiliary + pas + participle: je n'ai pas mangé
✓ Past participle does not agree with the subject with avoir
✓ Common time markers: hier, la semaine dernière, il y a, pendant, déjà, jamais