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