Past tenses
French has two main past tenses for everyday use: the passé composé for completed actions and the imparfait for ongoing or habitual past actions.
The passé composé
The passé composé is the most common past tense in spoken French. It's formed with an auxiliary verb (avoir or être) plus a past participle.
With avoir (most verbs)
| Pronoun | Avoir | Past participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| j' | ai | mangé | 🔊 I ate / I have eaten |
| tu | as | mangé | 🔊 you ate |
| il/elle | a | mangé | 🔊 he/she ate |
| nous | avons | mangé | 🔊 we ate |
| vous | avez | mangé | 🔊 you ate |
| ils/elles | ont | mangé | 🔊 they ate |
Forming past participles
| Infinitive ending | Participle ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| -er | -é | parler → 🔊 parlé |
| -ir | -i | finir → 🔊 fini |
| -re | -u | vendre → 🔊 vendu |
Common irregular past participles
| Infinitive | Past participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| avoir | 🔊 eu | had |
| être | 🔊 été | been |
| faire | 🔊 fait | done/made |
| prendre | 🔊 pris | taken |
| mettre | 🔊 mis | put |
| dire | 🔊 dit | said |
| écrire | 🔊 écrit | written |
| lire | 🔊 lu | read |
| voir | 🔊 vu | seen |
| pouvoir | 🔊 pu | been able |
| vouloir | 🔊 voulu | wanted |
| savoir | 🔊 su | known |
| devoir | 🔊 dû | had to |
| boire | 🔊 bu | drunk |
| connaître | 🔊 connu | known |
| ouvrir | 🔊 ouvert | opened |
| offrir | 🔊 offert | offered |
With être (movement and change verbs)
Certain verbs use être instead of avoir. The past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.
DR MRS VANDERTRAMP (mnemonic):
| Verb | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Devenir | 🔊 devenu | became |
| Revenir | 🔊 revenu | came back |
| Monter | 🔊 monté | went up |
| Rester | 🔊 resté | stayed |
| Sortir | 🔊 sorti | went out |
| Venir | 🔊 venu | came |
| Aller | 🔊 allé | went |
| Naître | 🔊 né | was born |
| Descendre | 🔊 descendu | went down |
| Entrer | 🔊 entré | entered |
| Rentrer | 🔊 rentré | returned home |
| Tomber | 🔊 tombé | fell |
| Retourner | 🔊 retourné | returned |
| Arriver | 🔊 arrivé | arrived |
| Mourir | 🔊 mort | died |
| Partir | 🔊 parti | left |
| Passer | 🔊 passé | passed (by) |
Agreement examples:
- 🔊 Il est arrivé. — He arrived.
- 🔊 Elle est arrivée. — She arrived.
- 🔊 Ils sont arrivés. — They (m.) arrived.
- 🔊 Elles sont arrivées. — They (f.) arrived.
Reflexive verbs use être
All reflexive verbs use être:
- 🔊 Je me suis levé. — I got up.
- 🔊 Elle s'est habillée. — She got dressed.
- 🔊 Nous nous sommes amusés. — We had fun.
Negation in passé composé
Ne...pas surrounds the auxiliary:
- 🔊 Je n'ai pas mangé. — I didn't eat.
- 🔊 Elle n'est pas venue. — She didn't come.
The imparfait (imperfect)
The imparfait describes ongoing, habitual, or background past actions.
Formation
Take the nous form of the present tense, remove -ons, add imparfait endings:
| Pronoun | Ending | parler (parlons → parl-) |
|---|---|---|
| je | -ais | 🔊 parlais |
| tu | -ais | 🔊 parlais |
| il/elle | -ait | 🔊 parlait |
| nous | -ions | 🔊 parlions |
| vous | -iez | 🔊 parliez |
| ils/elles | -aient | 🔊 parlaient |
Only one verb is irregular: être → j'étais, tu étais, il était...
Using the imparfait
1. Habitual past actions
- 🔊 Quand j'étais jeune, je jouais au football. — When I was young, I used to play football.
- 🔊 Tous les jours, il prenait le métro. — Every day, he took the metro.
2. Descriptions and background
- 🔊 Il faisait beau. — The weather was nice.
- 🔊 La maison était grande. — The house was big.
3. Ongoing actions (interrupted by passé composé)
- 🔊 Je dormais quand le téléphone a sonné. — I was sleeping when the phone rang.
4. Age and time in the past
- 🔊 J'avais dix ans. — I was ten years old.
- 🔊 Il était trois heures. — It was three o'clock.
5. States of mind and feelings
- 🔊 Je ne savais pas. — I didn't know.
- 🔊 Elle voulait partir. — She wanted to leave.
Passé composé vs Imparfait
| Passé composé | Imparfait |
|---|---|
| Completed action | Ongoing action |
| Specific event | Habitual/repeated |
| What happened | What was happening |
| Foreground event | Background/setting |
In the same sentence
The passé composé often interrupts an imparfait action:
- 🔊 Je regardais la télé quand il est arrivé. — I was watching TV when he arrived.
- 🔊 Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti. — It was raining when I went out.
Time markers
Passé composé:
- hier (yesterday)
- la semaine dernière (last week)
- soudain (suddenly)
- tout à coup (suddenly)
- une fois (once)
Imparfait:
- toujours (always)
- souvent (often)
- d'habitude (usually)
- tous les jours (every day)
- quand j'étais jeune (when I was young)
Examples compared
| French | Tense | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 🔊 Hier, j'ai mangé une pizza. | PC | Completed action yesterday |
| 🔊 Quand j'étais petit, je mangeais beaucoup de pizza. | Imp | Habitual action in past |
| 🔊 Il faisait beau et les oiseaux chantaient. | Imp | Background description |
| 🔊 Soudain, un homme est entré. | PC | Specific event |
| 🔊 Elle a appelé pendant que je dormais. | PC + Imp | Event during ongoing action |
The plus-que-parfait (pluperfect)
For actions that happened before another past action, use the plus-que-parfait: imparfait of avoir/être + past participle.
- 🔊 J'avais déjà mangé quand il est arrivé. — I had already eaten when he arrived.
- 🔊 Elle était partie avant moi. — She had left before me.