{"id":2048,"date":"2010-10-28T04:18:27","date_gmt":"2010-10-28T04:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=2048"},"modified":"2017-10-18T12:12:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T10:12:41","slug":"le-passe-compose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/le-passe-compose\/","title":{"rendered":"Le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

I started studying French in middle school, and by 8th<\/sup> grade, I thought had learned everything. All I needed was a little more vocabulary, and I\u2019d be fluent. Then I came into class one day, and my teacher said, Alors la classe, aujourd\u2019hui on va commencer le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9<\/strong><\/em>, a form of past tense.<\/p>\n

Past tense. Connaissez-vous bien le pass\u00e9? <\/em>It turns out you need it, and you all are smarter than me: you recognized that one needs to be able to express things in the past (le pass\u00e9).<\/em><\/p>\n

Alors, comme vous l\u2019avez demand\u00e9 (merci surtout \u00e0 Claire):<\/em> past tenses <\/strong>! Plus sp\u00e9cifiquement, le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9 v. l\u2019imparfait. <\/em>Today, le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9 <\/em>; next time, l\u2019imparfait <\/em>!<\/p>\n

I. <\/strong>Le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A.<\/strong> Le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9<\/em> is used for an action or series of actions completed in the past.<\/strong> It has three possible meanings in English: For example, j\u2019ai dans\u00e9 <\/em>can mean \u201cI danced,\u201d \u201cI have danced,\u201d or \u201cI did dance\u201d (with emphasis).<\/p>\n

Le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9 <\/em>is called the composed past because it is composed of two components<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The present tense of the auxiliary verb, either avoir <\/em>or \u00eatre, <\/em>PLUS<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The past participle of the action verb<\/p>\n

So: (subject) + (\u00eatre<\/em> or avoir<\/em>, conjugated) + (main verb, in past participle form).<\/p>\n

For example: I danced yesterday = J\u2019ai dans\u00e9 hier<\/em>, where the main verb, danser<\/em>, takes avoir <\/em>(=> J\u2019ai) and the past participle of danser <\/em>(to dance) is dans\u00e9<\/em>.<\/p>\n

B.<\/strong> While irregular verbs have irregular past participles, there is a pattern for regular verbs: -er verbs end in \u00e9, while \u2013ir end in i and \u2013re verbs end in \u2013u. Exemples:<\/em><\/p>\n

Regarder = regard\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n

Partir = parti<\/em><\/p>\n

R\u00e9pondre = r\u00e9pondu<\/em><\/p>\n

C.<\/strong> The past participle agrees in gender with an indirect object, but does not agree with the subject (so a girl and a boy both say \u201cJ\u2019ai regard\u00e9\u201d <\/em>without the girl needing to add an extra \u2018e\u2019).<\/p>\n

D.<\/strong> To use le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9<\/em>, you need to know the past participle of the verb, and whether to use avoir <\/em>or \u00eatre<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rule is, all verbs take avoir<\/em>, except reflexive verbs (with se<\/em>) and DRMRSVANDERTRAMP.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. & Mrs. Van Der Tramp is a mnemonic for the 21 verbs that take \u00eatre <\/em><\/strong>instead of avoir<\/em>. They are all related to movement<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

DRMRSVANDERTRAMP (verbs that take \u00eatre<\/em>) stands for:<\/p>\n

D<\/em><\/strong>evenir <\/em>: to become
\nR<\/strong>evenir <\/em>: to return, to come again
\nM<\/strong>onter <\/em>: to go up
\nR<\/strong>ester <\/em>: to rest, stay
\nS<\/strong>ortir <\/em>: to exit
\nV<\/strong>enir <\/em>: to come
\nA<\/strong>ller <\/em>: to go
\nN<\/strong>a\u00eetre <\/em>: to be born
\nD<\/strong>escendre <\/em>: to go down
\nE<\/strong>ntrer <\/em>: to enter
\nR<\/strong>entrer <\/em>: to reenter, to return
\nT<\/strong>omber <\/em>: to fall
\nR<\/strong>etourner <\/em>: to return
\nA<\/strong>rriver <\/em>: to arrive
\nM<\/strong>ourir <\/em>: to die
\nP<\/strong>artir <\/em>: to leave, to depart<\/p>\n

L\u2019imparfait<\/em><\/strong> is used for repeated, incomplete or ongoing actions. On va l\u2019\u00e9tudier prochainement.<\/em> I hope this has helped- leave questions<\/strong> and we\u2019ll examine them next time!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

I started studying French in middle school, and by 8th grade, I thought had learned everything. All I needed was a little more vocabulary, and I\u2019d be fluent. Then I came into class one day, and my teacher said, Alors la classe, aujourd\u2019hui on va commencer le pass\u00e9 compos\u00e9, a form of past tense. Past…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":2051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,6,13],"tags":[11533,12141,479,12139,12138,120,2376,12140],"class_list":["post-2048","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-grammar","category-vocabulary","tag-gossip-girl","tag-grammar-cat","tag-imparfait","tag-passe","tag-passe-compose","tag-past-participle","tag-past-tense","tag-van-der-tramp"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t