Structure: avoir (present tense) + past participle
| Pronom | avoir (présent) | Example with parler |
|---|---|---|
| je | j'ai | j'ai parlé |
| tu | tu as | tu as parlé |
| il / elle / on | il/elle a | il a parlé |
| nous | nous avons | nous avons parlé |
| vous | vous avez | vous avez parlé |
| ils / elles | ils/elles ont | ils ont parlé |
Forming the past participle
| Infinitive type | Rule | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| -er verbs | remove -er â add Ă© | parler â parlĂ©, manger â mangĂ©, regarder â regardĂ© |
| -ir verbs | remove -ir â add i | finir â fini, choisir â choisi, partir â parti* |
| -re verbs | remove -re â add u | vendre â vendu, attendre â attendu, rĂ©pondre â rĂ©pondu |
*Note: partir uses ĂȘtre in the perfect tense â see U4-T3 for ĂȘtre verbs.
Irregular past participles (learn these by heart)
| Infinitive | Past participle | English |
|---|---|---|
| avoir | eu | had |
| ĂȘtre | Ă©tĂ© | been |
| faire | fait | done / made |
| prendre | pris | taken |
| voir | vu | seen |
| boire | bu | drunk |
| pouvoir | pu | been able to |
| devoir | dĂ» | had to |
| vouloir | voulu | wanted |
| lire | lu | read |
| Ă©crire | Ă©crit | written |
| mettre | mis | put / put on |
| ouvrir | ouvert | opened |
| dire | dit | said |
| venir | venu | come |
â Agreement with avoir â Foundation note
With avoir, the past participle does NOT agree with the subject. It stays in the base form for all persons:
Il a mangĂ© / Elle a mangĂ© / Ils ont mangĂ© / Elles ont mangĂ© â all the same ending.
There is one exception (advanced): the past participle agrees with a direct object that comes before the verb â but at Foundation you will mostly see this in reading, not need to produce it.
Annotated model sentences
Hier soir, j'ai regardé un film avec ma famille.
Yesterday evening, I watched a film with my family.
- Hier soir = past time marker
- j'ai = avoir (je form) + regardé = regular -er past participle
- Simple, correct Foundation sentence â picks up AO2 and AO3 marks
La semaine derniĂšre, nous avons pris le train pour aller Ă Paris et nous avons vu la Tour Eiffel.
Last week, we took the train to go to Paris and we saw the Eiffel Tower.
- Two irregular past participles in one sentence: pris (prendre) and vu (voir)
- pour + infinitif (pour aller) â purpose clause showing grammatical range
- Linking with et and using nous avons twice â natural and accurate
This deep dive covers Formation du passé composé avec avoir within The perfect tense with avoir for GCSE French. Revise The perfect tense with avoir in Time Markers and the Three Time Frames for GCSE French with 15 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 2 of 4 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Practice questions for The perfect tense with avoir
What is the correct formula for the perfect tense with avoir?
What is the past participle of manger (to eat)?