French/Grammar/Tenses/Composed


 * The perfect tenses are also called the compound or composed tenses.
 * The perfect tenses are all composed of a conjugated auxiliary verb and a fixed past participle.

Auxiliary Verb Formation

 * The auxiliary verb is always either avoir or être.
 * The tense of the verb depends upon the tense that avoir or être is conjugated in.
 * When the auxiliary verb is conjugated in the passé composé, for example, the auxiliary verb is conjugated in the present indicative.
 * J'ai fini. - I have finished.

Past Participle Formation

 * -er verbs - replace -er with é
 * -ir verbs - replace -ir with i
 * -re verbs - replace -re with u
 * irregular verbs - must be memorized

Past Participle Agreement
Audio: [[Media:French-vacances16.ogg|French native speaker]]
 * The past pasticiple must agree with the direct object of a clause in gender and plurality if the direct object goes before the verb.
 * the direct object is masculine singular - no change
 * J'ai fini le jeu. - I have finished the game.
 * Je l'ai fini. - I have finished it.
 * the direct object is feminine singular - add an e to the past participle
 * J'ai fini la tâche. - I have finished the task.
 * Je l'ai finie. - I have finished it.
 * the direct object is masculine plural - add an s to the past participle.
 * J'ai fini les jeux. - I have finished the games.
 * Je les ai finis. - I have finished them.
 * the direct object is feminine plural - add an es to the past participle.
 * J'ai fini les tâches. - I have finished the tasks.
 * Je les ai finies. - I have finished them.

Avoir ou Être?

 * In most circumstances, the auxiliary verb is avoir.
 * However, under certain situations, the auxiliary verb is être.
 * This occurs when:
 * The verb is one of 16 special verbs that take être.
 * Arrivé, Allé, Venu, Devenu, Revenu, Entré, Rentré, Descendu, Retourné, Resté, Monté, Parti, Sorti, Tombé, Né, Mort.
 * Note that when a direct object is used with these verbs, the auxiliary verb becomes avoir.
 * The verb is reflexive.
 * That is, the subject of the verb is also its object.

List of Tenses
There are seven perfect tenses in French. These are:
 * 1) Le passé composé (The Present Perfect)
 * 2) Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif (The Pluperfect of the Indicative)
 * 3) Le plus-que-parfait du subjonctif (The Pluperfect Subjunctive)
 * 4) Le passé antérieur (The Past Anterior)
 * 5) Le futur antérieur (The Future Anterior)
 * 6) Le conditionnel passé (The Past Conditional)
 * 7) Le passé du subjonctif (The Past Subjunctive)