Grammar
Introduction to the passé composé with avoir
The passé composé is the main French past tense for finished actions: 'I ate', 'I have eaten', 'I did eat'. It has two parts: the present of avoir (j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont) and a past participle. So J'ai mangé means 'I ate' or 'I have eaten'.
To form the participle of regular verbs: -er verbs become -é (parler becomes parlé, visiter becomes visité), regular -ir verbs become -i (finir becomes fini) and regular -re verbs become -u (attendre becomes attendu). Some common verbs are irregular and must be learned: faire becomes fait, prendre becomes pris, voir becomes vu, avoir becomes eu, être becomes été.
Negation goes around avoir: Je n'ai pas mangé. In questions, use est-ce que or inversion with avoir: Est-ce que tu as mangé ? or As-tu mangé ? Time words like hier, avant-hier and la semaine dernière go with this tense. A few verbs, such as aller and the reflexives, use être instead of avoir, but you will meet those later.
| j'ai | parlé |
| tu as | parlé |
| il / elle a | parlé |
| nous avons | parlé |
| vous avez | parlé |
| ils / elles ont | parlé |
Hier, j'ai mangé au restaurant.
Yesterday I ate at a restaurant.
Tu as fini tes devoirs ?
Have you finished your homework?
Elle a visité le musée.
She visited the museum.
Nous avons vu un film.
We saw a film.
Je n'ai pas pris le bus.
I didn't take the bus.