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The Pass Composwith Avoir

Using avoiras the helping verb is a logical choice in a tense that expresses an action

that has occurred. Although English usage often omits the use of have when it isimplied (You may say, I lost my keys and not, I have lost my keys), in French, youmust always use the helping verb: J'ai perdu mes clefs.To form the pass compos of verbs using avoir, conjugate avoir in the presenttense (j'ai, tu as, il a, nous avons, vous avez, ils ont) and add the past participle ofthe verb expressing the action. Put the words together this way: subject + helpingverb (usually avoir) + past participle.

The pass compos, a compound past tense, is formed by combining two elements:when (the action has taken place and, therefore, requires the helping verb avoir) and

what (the action that has happened and, therefore, requires the past participle of theregular or irregular verb showing the particular action). See Figure 1 .

Figure 1 Forming the pass compos.

Here are some examples of the pass compos.

Elle a expliqu son problme. (She explained her problem.)

Ils ont russi. (They succeeded.)

J'ai entendu les nouvelles. (I heard the news.)

Forming the negative in the pass composwith avoirIn a negative sentence in the pass compos, neprecedes the helping verb, and thenegative word ( pas, rien, jamais, and so on follows it:

Je n'ai rien prpar. (I didn't prepare anything.)

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Nous n'avons pas fini le travail. (We didn't finish the work.)

Il n'a jamais rpondu la lettre. (He never answered the letter.)Questions in the pass composwith avoirTo form a question in the pass compos using inversion, invert the conjugated

helping verb with the subject pronoun and add a hyphen. Then place the negativearound the hyphenated helping verb and subject pronoun:

As-tu mang?(Did you eat?)

N'as-tu rien mang?(Didn't you eat anything?)

A-t-il attendu les autres?(Did he wait for the others?)

N'a-t-il pas attendu?(Didn't he wait for the others?)

Regular verbs follow a prescribed set of rules for the formation of the past participle,whereas irregular verbs (discussed in the following section) must be memorized.Past participles of verbs conjugated with avoir agree in gender (masculine orfeminine add e) and number (singular or plural add s) with a preceding directobject noun or pronoun:

Le(s) film(s)?(The film[s]?) Je l'(les)ai aim(s). (I liked it [them].)

Quelle(s) robe(s) a-t-elle choisie(s)?(Which dress[es] did she choose?)Il nous a vus. (He saw us.)

The past participles of shoe verbs require no spelling change within their stems(forms to which endings are added):

voyager(to travel) Vous avez voyag. (You traveled.)

avancer(to advance) L'auto a avanc. (The car advanced.)

payer(to pay) Ils ont pay. (They paid.)

acheter(to buy) J'ai achet un pantalon. (I bought pants.)

appeler(to call) A-t-elle appel?(Did she call?)clbrer(to celebrate) Il a clbr son anniversaire. (He celebrated his birthday.)