You can google, then you will find a pic of a man who go on a mountain, then go down. In pic that you will see all words which go with etre, the rest will go with avoir.
See how to conjugate regular -ER verbs in Le Passé Composé with the example of voler (to fly):
|
|
REGULAR -ER VERB |
|
j' |
ai volé |
|
tu |
as volé |
|
il / elle / on |
a volé |
|
nous |
avons volé |
|
vous |
avez volé |
|
ils/elles |
ont volé |
Regular -ER verbs are easy to conjugate in Le Passé Composé :
avoir in Le Présent + past participle
To form the past participle of regular -er verbs, simply replace the -er ending of the infinitive form with -é:
manger (to eat) -> mangé (eaten)
danser (to dance) -> dansé (danced)
parler (to speak) -> parlé (spoken)
etc
ATTENTION:
Note that with avoir as an auxiliary, past participles never agree with the subject of the verb:
Here are more examples to listen to:
J'ai mangé un sandwich.
I ate a sandwich.
Tu as parlé à ta mère.
You spoke to your mother.
Il a commandé un dessert.
He ordered a dessert.
Nous avons chanté tous ensemble.
We all sang together.
Vous avez écouté de la musique.
You listened to music.
Ils ont discuté toute la nuit.
They discussed all night long.
See also how to conjugate the irregular ALLER in Le Passé Composé:
Conjugate coming and going verbs (+ être) in Le Passé Composé (conversational past)
and other regular verbs:
Conjugate regular -ir verbs (+ avoir) in Le Passé Composé (conversational past)
Conjugate regular -dre verbs (+ avoir) in Le Passé Composé (conversational past)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Vous avez écouté de la musique.
You listened to music.
Ils ont discuté toute la nuit.
They discussed all night long.
Nous avons chanté tous ensemble.
We all sang together.
Il a commandé un dessert.
He ordered a dessert.
Elle a parlé à Marie.
She spoke to Marie.
Tu as parlé à ta mère.
You spoke to your mother.
Il a parlé à Marie.
He spoke to Marie.
J'ai mangé un sandwich.
I ate a sandwich.
Q&A Forum 3 questions, 7 answers
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Don't know why this isn't imparfait
où on a degouté des specialities lyonnaises/ où on dégoutait des specialities lyonnaises (where we enjoyed Lyonnaise specialities)
I don't understand why this can't be in the imparfait as there's no end time. Is it passé composé because it is NOW finished? It seems like this is something that happened over a period of time in the past, not quickly, so I used imparfait.
Asked 11 months ago
Hi Helen,
would you say, in English, "...where we used to sample Lyonnese specialites"? Or would it not rather be, "...where we samples Lyonnese specialties"? If the latter, then you use the passé composé in English.
-- Chris.
Hey, Chris-- so is that a trick to use when deciding on the imparfait vs passé composé to think... "I, we, etc. used to + imparfait". That helps a lot if that's the case because so many times I'm deciding between which tense to use about something in the past and it's not clear cut because there's no definite end time. Thank you.
The French imparfait describes a longer lasting or usual action in the past. Like you were describing a scene in front of which an action took place (the action is in passé composé).
In English you would use constructs like the continuous past tense:
I was going to school when I met you. -- J'allais à l'école quand je t'ai rencontré.
But the same sentence could also mean "I used to go to school..."' expressing something that happened as a habit in the past.
J'allais à l'école avec mes potes. -- I used to go to school with my buddies.
With these two crutches you should be well kn your way of figuring out the imparfait.
-- Chris.
Helen asked:View original
Don't know why this isn't imparfait
où on a degouté des specialities lyonnaises/ où on dégoutait des specialities lyonnaises (where we enjoyed Lyonnaise specialities)
I don't understand why this can't be in the imparfait as there's no end time. Is it passé composé because it is NOW finished? It seems like this is something that happened over a period of time in the past, not quickly, so I used imparfait.
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AurélieKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Sydney !
Both Le Passé Composé and L'Imparfait could be used here, depending on your point of view.
If you say "Le chien a aboyé toute la nuit." (The dog barked all night long), it means you're talking of it as a past and finished action.
If you said "Le chien aboyait toute la nuit" (The dog was barking all night long), you're insisting on the length of this action, by highlighting the continued aspect of this process. You could also use it to express a habit in the past (The dog used to bark all night long).
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
In english we have something similar, if I am understanding correctly. We would say the dog kept barking all night to stress the continuous nature. If we said the dog barked all night its either he did it continuously or intermittantly, so often a clarification is required.
AurélieKwiziq language super star
Yes, that's the tricky part with using the Simple Past in English there :)
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