Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
Je suis (pause with a tap of the finger) à huit heures. |
Je suis (pause with a tap of the finger) à huit heures. |
parti |
parti |
Je suis parti à huit heures. |
Je suis parti à huit heures. |
"I left at eight o'clock." |
We use parti in this sentence because it's the past participle of partir, a movement verb that uses être in le passé composé. |
Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
Elle est (pause with a tap of the finger) tôt au café. |
Elle est (pause with a tap of the finger) tôt au café. |
arrivée |
arrivée |
Elle est arrivée tôt au café. |
Elle est arrivée tôt au café. |
"She arrived early at the café." |
We use arrivée in this sentence because arriver is a verb of movement and takes être. The past participle also agrees with elle, so that's why we say arrivée with an -e at the end. |
Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
Tu as (pause with a tap of the finger) ton petit-déjeuner ? |
Tu as (pause with a tap of the finger) ton petit-déjeuner ? |
pris |
pris |
Tu as pris ton petit-déjeuner ? |
Tu as pris ton petit-déjeuner ? |
"Did you have breakfast?" |
We use pris in this sentence because prendre is a common action verb that takes avoir in le passé composé. |
Unscramble the words to make a sentence. |
Ready? |
Nous |
Nous avons |
Nous avons vu |
Nous avons vu un |
Nous avons vu un très |
Nous avons vu un très bon |
Nous avons vu un très bon film. |
"We saw a really good movie." |
Nous avons vu un très bon film. |
Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
Vous (êtes lu or avez lu) ce livre ? |
Vous (êtes lu or avez lu) ce livre ? |
avez lu |
avez lu |
Vous avez lu ce livre ? |
"Did you read that book?" |
Avez lu is used here because lire uses avoir in le passé composé. With avoir, the past participle usually does not change unless there's a direct object before the verb. |
Choose the best answer to complete the sentence. Ready? |
Elles sont (sorties or sorti) avec leurs amies. |
Elles sont (sorties or sorti) avec leurs amies. |
sorties |
sorties |
Elles sont sorties avec leurs amies. |
"They went out with their friends." |
Sorties is used here because sortir takes être in le passé composé, and the past participle must agree with the subject. Since elles is feminine and plural, we add -es to make sorties. |
Sorti would be incorrect because it's masculine singular. |
Let's translate some sentences into French. |
Translate "They entered the classroom." into French. |
Let's assume "they" refers to a masculine or mixed group. |
ils, the subject pronoun, meaning "they" (masculine or mixed group), |
followed by |
sont, the present tense of être, used here as the auxiliary verb in le passé composé, |
next |
entrés, the past participle of entrer, meaning "entered," |
which agrees with the plural subject ils by adding -s, |
followed by |
dans la salle de classe, meaning "into the classroom." |
Sont entrés is used here because entrer is a movement verb, and verbs of movement use être in le passé composé. The past participle also agrees with the plural subject ils by adding -s. |
Ils sont entrés dans la salle de classe. |
Ils sont entrés dans la salle de classe. |
"They entered the classroom." |
Translate "I stayed at home all weekend." into French. |
Here, let's assume the speaker is a woman. |
je, the subject pronoun, meaning "I," |
followed by |
suis, the present tense of être, used as the auxiliary verb in le passé composé, |
next |
restée, the past participle of rester, meaning "stayed," |
which ends in -ée to agree with a feminine speaker, |
followed by |
chez moi, meaning "at my place" or "at home," |
and finally |
tout le week-end, meaning "all weekend." |
Suis restée is used here because rester is a verb of state and uses être in le passé composé. The past participle takes an additional eto agree with a feminine subject. |
Je suis restée chez moi tout le week-end. |
Je suis restée chez moi tout le week-end. |
"I stayed at home all weekend." |
Translate "we finished our homework." into French. |
on, an informal subject pronoun meaning "we," |
followed by |
a, the third-person singular present tense of avoir, used as the auxiliary verb, |
next |
fini, the past participle of finir, meaning "finished," |
followed by |
nos devoirs, meaning "our homework." |
a fini is used here because finir is a regular -ir verb that uses avoir in le passé composé, and there's no agreement needed with the subject because it’s the verb avoir. |
On a fini nos devoirs. |
On a fini nos devoirs. |
"We finished our homework." |
Listen to me as I speak. Which passé composé form is used in the sentences? |
Je suis parti à huit heures. |
Let's listen one more time. |
Je suis parti à huit heures. |
Did you hear, suis parti? |
Suis parti, meaning "I left," uses être in le passé composé because partir is a movement verb. The past participle also agrees with the subject, and because the subject is je (masculine singular), the past participle stays in its basic form: parti. |
How about...? |
Nous avons vu un très bon film. |
Let's listen one more time. |
Nous avons vu un très bon film. |
Did you hear, avons vu? |
Avons vu, meaning "we saw," uses avoir because voir is a common action verb that follows the standard passé composé structure. |
Next… |
Vous avez lu ce livre ? |
One more time. |
Vous avez lu ce livre ? |
Did you hear, avez lu? |
Avez lu, meaning "you read," also uses avoir in le passé composé because lire is not a movement or reflexive verb. |
And... |
On a fini nos devoirs. |
One more time. |
On a fini nos devoirs. |
Did you hear, a fini? |
A fini, meaning "finished," uses avoir in le passé composé. Finir is a regular verb and does not require agreement because of avoir verb. |
Thank you for watching. |
Now you know how to use le passé composé with être and avoir to talk about things you did over the weekend in French. |
…and now you can move on to the next lesson in the pathway. |
Au revoir ! |
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