Passé composé

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The passé composé is a tense ( Tense ) of the French language , which is around the German Perfect equivalent. It is the predominant perfect form of spoken language. In the written language, the passé simple is sometimes used. In Spanish it corresponds to the Pretérito perfecto compuesto or the Italian Passato prossimo and has functional similarities with the English Present perfect .

use

The passé composé is used to mark completed actions in the past (time-limited action, punctual action). With these, the beginning and / or end of the event are always taken into account; so it is B. for newly occurring actions:

  • Tout à coup le camion s'est renversé "Suddenly the truck overturned."
  • Ce jour-là j'ai raté le bus "I missed the bus that day."

It is also used for actions that have occurred in the past:

  • D'abord, ma mère a préparé le petit déjeuner et ensuite, j'ai fait la vaisselle "First my mother prepared breakfast and then I washed the dishes"

The passé composé also describes active actions that have taken place in the past: * La falaise est tombée dans la mer "The rock fell into the sea"

In contrast to such active acts, the imparfait is used. An event described with this tense is then presented without considering the beginning or the end. These are therefore descriptions of states or past actions in the course of the process.

For verbs of movement that indicate a direction, use être ( elle n'est pas allée ); for all other avoirs ( il a fait un excursion à vélo ).

education

The passé composé consists of an auxiliary and a main verb. Avoir and much less often être serve as auxiliary verbs .

Participe passé

The participe passé is taken as the main verb . In the “-er” verb group, it ends in “-é”. z. B .:

  • demander - demandé
  • parler - parlé
  • rester - resté

In the “-ir” verb group, it ends in “-i”. z. B .:

  • rougir - rougi
  • grandir - grandi

In the third group of verbs with the ending “-re” or “-oir” it ends in “-u”. z. B .:

  • rendre - rendu (return)
  • valoir - valu
  • vouloir - voulu

Irregular verbs include:

  • acquérir - aquis (acquire)
  • avoir - eu (to have)
  • boire - bu (drink)
  • connaître - connu (to know)
  • courir - couru (run)
  • croire - cru (belief)
  • devoir - dû (must)
  • dire - dit (to say)
  • écrire - écrit (to write)
  • être - été (to be)
  • faire - fait (to do)
  • fuir - fui (flee)
  • joindre - joint (add)
  • lire - lu (read)
  • mettre - mis (lay, put, put)
  • mourir - mort (to die)
  • naître - né (to be born)
  • peindre - peint (paint)
  • plaire - plu (fallen)
  • pouvoir - pu (can)
  • prendre - pris (to take)
  • recevoir - reçu (received)
  • résoudre - résolu (to decide)
  • rire - ri (laughter)
  • savoir - su (to know)
  • suivre - suivi (follow)
  • vaincre - vaincu (defeat)
  • valoir - valu (to be worth, to apply)
  • venir - venu (to come)
  • vivre - vécu (life)
  • voir - vu (see)

Avoir or être

There are two auxiliary verbs, être and avoir , which are used according to certain rules. If the main verb is a so-called verb of movement (e.g. monter , venir ) or a reflexive verb (e.g. se lever ), a conjugated form of être is used as an auxiliary verb . In addition, naître and mourir also form the passé compose with être . Here is a list of all non-reflexive verbs in which the passé composé is formed with être :

aller - venir
arriver - partir
entrer - sortir
monter - descendre , but only for intransitive use
naître - mourir
tomber - devenir
rester - revenir
rentrer - return

There is the following motto:

Aller and venir ,
arriver and partir ,
entrer and sortir ,
tomber , devenir ,
revenir and rester ,
retourner and rentrer ,
mourir and also naître
use with être !

or:

All , rester , demeurer ,
entrer , rentrer , retourner ,
also descendre and monter ,
as well as tomber , arriver ,
mourir , naître , partir pour ,
venir , sortir , être only!

or:

All, venir, partir,
sortir, entrer, rentrer,
rester, tomber, arriver,
demeurer, retourner, monter,
descendre, mourir and naître
form the passé composé with être !

or also: aller, venir, arriver sortir, partir, retourner rester entrer rentrer tomber monter descendre mourir and naître always connect with être!

In all other cases, the passé composé is formed with a conjugated form of avoir .

The auxiliary verb conjugated according to the person used is always in the present tense , from the actual main verb the participe passé is used.

In the case of negative constructs, only the auxiliary verb is negated. The so-called negative brackets ne .. pas only surrounds the auxiliary verb.

Example of intransitive use:

je suis sorti (e) avec une amie. "I went out with a friend" (intransitive use)

but J'ai sorti le chien. "Go for a walk with the dog."

Non-reflective verbs

  • Auxiliary verb is être

In non-reflective verbs, the form of participe passé is always adapted to the subject ( noun or personal pronoun ) of the sentence in terms of number (singular or plural) and gender (male or female) by adding a corresponding suffix ( accord ) to the verb form.

number genus suffix example
Singular male - -
Singular Female -e elle est allé e
Plural male -s ils sont allé s
Plural Female -it elles sont allé it
  • Auxiliary verb is avoir

The form of the passe composé is only changed in two cases: 1. if the verb is preceded by a direct object pronoun. 2. if the object of the sentence is explained in more detail by a relative clause. Then the main verb is also changed by a suffix, as with être . The verb form is not changed if it is preceded by an indirect object pronoun ( lui , leur ).

number genus Pron. suffix
Singular male le -
Singular Female la -e
Plural male les -s
Plural Female les -it

Examples:

J'ai écrit une lettre. "I wrote a letter."

→ no direct object pronoun and no relative clause → main verb unchanged

la lettre que j'ai écrite "the letter that I wrote"

→ Relative clause, which explains the object in more detail → changes the main verb

Ils se sont parlé . "They talked to each other."

parler à quelqu'un “to speak to someone” → se replaces à quelqu'un and is therefore an indirect object → main verb unchanged

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs behave like verbs that form the passé composé with avoir . Although they are formed with the auxiliary verb être , they are only changed after a preceding direct object pronoun. Since reflexive verbs always contain a pronoun, one must carefully distinguish whether it is a direct or indirect one.

number genus pronoun suffix
Singular male me, se -
Singular Female me, se ( -e )
Plural male nous, vous, se ( -s )
Plural Female nous, vous, se ( -es )

Examples:

Elle s'est lavée . "She has washed"

laver quelqu'un “to wash someone” → se is the direct preceding object (accusative) → main verb changed

Elle s'est lavé les mains. "She washed her hands."

laver quelque chose à quelqu'un “to wash something for someone” → se is an indirect object (dative) → main verb unchanged

Individual evidence

  1. Pretérito perfecto (Gramática, 1931) also Pretérito perfecto compuesto (Esbozo, 1973) or perfect present