Now that you know the verb AVOIR in the present tense, you can use it to talk about
something that has happened in the past.
He has eaten
Level 2
1. In the English sentence he’s eaten, the ‘s expresses something that has happened. You can
do the same in French
il a mangé
He hasn’t eaten
il n’a pas mangé
These statements can be turned into questions
Has he eaten? Est-ce qu’il a mangé ?
Why hasn’t he eaten? Pourquoi est-ce qu’il n’a pas mangé
.../...
In English this tense is called present perfect and in French it is called le passé composé.
The present perfect / passé composé is composed of 2 elements – the auxiliary verb and
the past participle. See the 2 examples below :
has
auxiliary
verb
past
participle
he eaten
have they
Note that the past participle eaten/mangé remains the same. It is the auxiliary verb
that changes.
a il mangé
ont ils
.../...
Verbs
ending in
ER é
j’ai
tu as
il a
elle a
nous avons
vous avez
ils ont
elles ont
acheté
habité
parlé
trouvé
etc.
attendu
entendu
rendu
vendu
etc.
fini
choisi
réussi
rougi
etc.
Since you already know the verb AVOIR, you just need to learn the past participle of the
verbs.... which is easier than you think. Take a look at the table below:
Verbs
ending in
IR i
Verbs
ending in
RE u
Past participle for*
* except irregular verbs
.../...
bought, finished, waited
lived, chosen, heard
spoken/talked, managed, gave back
found, blushed, sold
etc.
2. In French, there’s no difference between something that has happened and
something that happened, therefore you’ve eaten and you ate, would be
translated exactly the same way.
tu as mangé = you’ve eaten = you ate
tu n’as pas mangé = you haven’t eaten = you didn’t eat
Est-ce que tu as mangé ? = Have you eaten? = Did you eat?
Pourquoi tu n’as pas mangé ? = Why haven’t you eaten? = Why didn’t you eat?
If you can add the word yesterday in your sentence, you need to use the
passé composé in French : Tip
He bought a car (yesterday) = il a acheté une voiture
They didn’t call (yesterday) = ils n’ont pas appelé
Did you watch the film (yesterday)? = tu as regardé le film ?
Where did she meet Paul (yesterday)? = Où est-ce qu’elle a rencontré Paul ?
Go to the exercises to practise how to talk about something that has happened or happened
Exercises L2 – Avoir + ER verbs
Exercise L3 – Avoir + IR and RE verbs
Exercise L4 – Avoir + Irregular verbs