Learn about the Compound Tense in French

What is the Compound Tense?

The Compound Tense in French, is a formation of an auxillary verb and a past participle of another verb. All of the following examples utilize the compound tense:

• ‘I have been,’
• ‘I was running,’
• ‘I had run,’

A common tense, used most extensively in spoken situations, the compound tense in French is based largely on the conjugation of the verbs avoir or être.. The beauty of the compound tense is that if you can, for instance, conjugate ‘avoir’ – I have, you have, we have, etc., then all that remains is to add the past participle of the second verb and voilà, you have the past tense which is most commonly used in conversation.

So "I ate", or "I have eaten" is formed with the French ‘I have’ and ‘eaten’. The verb avoir is conjugated into ‘I have’, j’ai, where the verb ‘to eat’, manger, turns into its past participle, ‘eaten’, which in French, is mangé.

j'ai mangé = I have eaten
There you have the French Compound Tense!

The other beauty of the French compound tense is that the past participle sounds like the infinitive of the 'er' verbs.

In other words, mangé sounds like manger, which is the infinitive. They are spelt differently but sound the same.

So with this structure you can easily work out the past tenses of hundreds of regular French verbs.

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The French verb avoir conjugated is:

Avoir to form the Compound Tense in French
j'ai	I have	nous avons	we have
tu as	you have	vous avez	you have (pl-formal)
il a	he has	ils ont	they have

Être and Avoir

As mentioned before,compound tenses such as:

• ‘I have stolen,’
• ‘I was stealing,’
• ‘I had stolen,’

are made by using the conjugations of the verbs avoir or être.

Compound Tense and 'Avoir'

Most verbs form their compound tense with avoir as the auxiliary verb.

Compound Tense and 'Être'

However, two groups form these tenses with être.

• être with Reflexive Verbs.
• être with Verbs of Motion.

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The French Verb être conjugated. 'to be' in French

être to form the Compound Tense in French
je suis	I am	nous sommes	we are
tu es	you are	vous êtes	you are (pl-formal)
il est	he is	ils sont	they are

Être with Reflexive Verbs (se lever, se demander…)

Je me suis levé tôt.
I got up early.

Elle s’est cassée la jambe.
She broke her leg.

Ils se sont couchés tard.
They went to bed late.

Être with motion verbs (expressing some kind of motion or change of state, used without a direct object)

Examples of the Compound Tense in French
Arriver, to arrive	Elle est arrivée
Partir, to leave	Elle est partie
Entrer, to enter	Elle est entrée
Sortir, to go out	Elle est sortie
Aller, to go	Elle est allée
Venir, to come	Elle est venue
Monter, to go up	Elle est montée
Descendre, to go down	Elle est descendue
Mourir, to die	Elle est morte
Naître, to be born	Elle est née
Rester, to stay	Elle est restée
Tomber, to fall	Elle est tombée
Retourner, to return	Elle est retournée

Avoir with verbs used transitively

Il est descendu.
He went down.

Il a descendu les escaliers.
He went down the stairs

Il est sorti.
He went out.

Il a sorti la poubelle.
He took the bin out.

Il est retourné à Paris.
He returned to Paris.

Il a retourné sa feuille.
He turned his sheet upside down.

Avoir with verbs of motion or change of state other than those listed above used transitively or intransitively.

Tu as déménagé.
You moved.

Tu as déménagé les meubles.
You moved the furniture.

Tu as déménagé à Bordeaux.
You moved to Bordeaux.

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Now you've learned how to form the compound tense in French. Care to try some other lessons?

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Compound Tense in French
Learn French Help – A Resource for the those Learning to speak French
32 Alverton, Great Linford, Milton Keynes, MK14 5EF, United Kingdom

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