Past Tense (Passé Composé) — Free French 1-2 Review Games.

'J'ai mangé' (I ate): avoir + mangé. 'Je suis allé' (I went): être + allé.

The majority of verbs use avoir; only about 17 verbs (DR MRS VANDERTRAMP) and reflexives use être.

Parler → parlé, manger → mangé, danser → dansé. Regular -ir → -i (fini), regular -re → -u (vendu).

The DR MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs (devenir, revenir, monter, rester, sortir, etc.) all use être.

'Quand j'étais petit, je jouais au foot' (When I was little, I used to play soccer).

Elle est allée (she went) adds -e; Elles sont allées adds -es. This agreement is essential.

This rule works for all verbs except être (ét-): nous parlons → parl- → je parlais.

Background/ongoing (imparfait) + specific event (passé composé) is the standard narrative pattern.

Specific time references (yesterday, last week) and sudden events (suddenly) signal completed actions.

Every other verb derives its imparfait stem regularly from the nous present form. Être is the sole exception.

This advanced rule requires agreement with preceding direct objects, often encountered with relative pronouns and object pronouns.

Unlike English (present perfect), French uses present tense with 'depuis' for still-ongoing situations.

The pluperfect (had + past participle) describes the earlier of two past events.

Like Spanish conocer, the completed aspect implies the beginning of knowing (= meeting).

Both tenses refer to the past, but they view actions differently: as complete events or as ongoing processes.

'Sortir' used intransitively to mean physical movement out of a place belongs to the group of verbs conjugated with être in the passé composé, following the DR MRS VANDERTRAMP pattern. The choice 'avoir' is wrong here because that auxiliary is reserved for verbs not on this movement/state list, such as 'manger' or 'voir'. A student should memorize that a small closed set of intransitive motion and change-of-state verbs always pairs with être.

'Faire' has an irregular past participle 'fait', which does not follow the regular -er pattern of adding '-é'. The distractor 'faisé' is wrong because it wrongly applies a regular -er ending to an irregular verb stem. Students must memorize irregular past participles individually since they cannot be predicted from the infinitive group.

'Manger' is a regular avoir-verb, so the present tense of avoir ('a') is the correct auxiliary for the third person singular. 'Est' is wrong because être is only used with the specific movement/reflexive verb group, and 'manger' is not one of them. This reinforces the general rule that most French verbs, especially transitive action verbs, take avoir as their auxiliary.

'Prendre' has the irregular past participle 'pris', formed by dropping the infinitive ending and adding an irregular suffix rather than following a regular pattern. 'Prendu' is incorrect because it falsely regularizes the verb as if it were an -re verb ending in '-du' like 'vendre' to 'vendu'. Irregular verbs like 'prendre' require rote memorization of their unique participle forms.

The imparfait endings are consistent across all verb groups, and the 'nous' form always takes '-ions', as in 'nous parlions' or 'nous finissions'. The ending '-iez' is wrong because that belongs to the 'vous' form, not 'nous'. Students should memorize the single set of imparfait endings since, unlike the passé composé, there are no irregular endings once the correct stem is found.

'Descendre' is one of the traditional être verbs representing movement (going down), and it is memorized through mnemonics like DR MRS VANDERTRAMP. 'Manger' is wrong because eating is a transitive action verb, not a motion/state verb, and therefore takes avoir. Recognizing this fixed list of roughly seventeen verbs is essential for correctly choosing the auxiliary in the passé composé.

'Être' has the irregular stem 'ét-' in the imparfait, to which the regular imparfait ending '-ais' is added, giving 'j'étais'. 'Je suis' is wrong because that is the present tense, not the imparfait. Students should remember that even though 'être' is irregular in most tenses, its imparfait stem still combines predictably with the standard imparfait endings.

'Elle a fini ses devoirs' correctly pairs the auxiliary 'a' with the past participle 'fini' of the regular -ir verb 'finir'. The option 'Elle a finit ses devoirs' is wrong because 'finit' is a present-tense conjugated form, not the past participle, which must be 'fini'. Students must be careful to use the true past participle form and not a conjugated verb form after the auxiliary.

The verb 'avoir' has the irregular past participle 'eu', pronounced like the letter 'u', as in 'j'ai eu de la chance'. 'Été' is wrong because that is actually the past participle of 'être', a common source of confusion for beginners. Memorizing these two short irregular participles separately prevents mixing up the two most frequently used auxiliary verbs.

'D'habitude' (usually) indicates a habitual, repeated action in the past, which is the hallmark use of the imparfait for ongoing or customary situations. 'Soudain' is wrong because it marks a sudden, completed event, which calls for the passé composé instead. Recognizing time expressions that imply repetition or background description versus single completed events is key to choosing the correct past tense.

In the passé composé, negation wraps around the conjugated auxiliary verb, so 'ne' and 'pas' surround 'ai' to give 'Je n'ai pas mangé'. The option 'Je n'ai mangé pas' is wrong because 'pas' must come immediately after the auxiliary, not after the past participle. Students should remember that only the auxiliary, not the past participle, sits between 'ne' and 'pas' in standard negation.

With être as the auxiliary, the past participle agrees with the subject in both gender and number, so 'arrivées' takes the feminine plural ending to match 'les filles'. The claim that it 'agrees only in number, never gender' is wrong because French participle agreement explicitly marks both categories, as seen in the added 'e' and 's'. This subject-agreement rule is unique to être verbs and does not apply the same way to avoir verbs.

'Partir' is an être verb of movement, so 'nous' takes the auxiliary 'sommes' and the past participle 'partis' agrees in the masculine/mixed plural with the subject. The choice 'avons parti' is wrong because 'partir' never takes avoir as its auxiliary regardless of context. Recognizing 'partir' as a fixed être verb helps avoid the common error of defaulting to avoir for all verbs.

When a reflexive verb has a direct object following the verb, as in 'les mains', the reflexive pronoun functions as an indirect object, so the past participle does not agree with the subject. The claim that 'reflexive verbs never agree' is wrong because they typically do agree with the subject when there is no following direct object, as in 'Elle s'est lavée'. This distinction shows that reflexive agreement depends on whether a direct object appears after the verb, not on a blanket rule.

'Il pleuvait quand je suis sorti' correctly uses the imparfait 'pleuvait' for the ongoing background weather and the passé composé 'suis sorti' for the single completed action that interrupted it. The option 'Il a plu et je suis sorti' is wrong because both verbs are in the passé composé, presenting two sequential completed events rather than a background interrupted by an action. This contrast between an ongoing background scene and a punctual event is the classic test of imparfait versus passé composé usage.

'Venir' has the irregular past participle 'venu', as in 'il est venu hier', formed from an irregular stem rather than a regular ending pattern. 'Vendu' is wrong because it is actually the past participle of 'vendre' (to sell), a different verb entirely despite the similar spelling. Careful attention to these look-alike participles prevents confusing verbs with similar forms but unrelated meanings.

'Tous les étés, nous allions à la plage' correctly uses the imparfait 'allions' to express a habitual, repeated action every summer in the past. 'Tous les étés, nous sommes allés à la plage' is wrong because the passé composé implies a single completed trip rather than a repeated habitual pattern. The presence of a recurring time marker like 'tous les étés' is a strong signal to use the imparfait rather than the passé composé.

'Tomber' and 'naître' are both on the fixed list of intransitive movement/state-change verbs that take être as their auxiliary, as in 'elle est tombée' and 'il est né'. The pair 'monter and manger' is wrong because although 'monter' can take être, 'manger' is a regular transitive verb that always takes avoir. Students must check each verb individually against the être list rather than assuming pairs share the same auxiliary based on superficial similarity.

The imparfait 'allais' correctly expresses a habitual childhood action, matching the ongoing, repeated nature signaled by 'quand j'étais petit' and 'souvent'. 'Suis allé' is wrong because the passé composé would imply a single specific completed visit rather than a repeated childhood habit. This sentence structure is a classic exam pattern testing recognition of habitual past context requiring the imparfait.

'Monter' shifts auxiliary based on transitivity: with a direct object, as in 'Il a monté les valises', it takes avoir, but used intransitively for simple movement, as in 'Il est monté', it takes être. The claim that it 'never changes auxiliary' is wrong because this verb is one of the classic dual-auxiliary exceptions taught precisely because it can vary. Recognizing this transitivity-based switch helps students correctly handle verbs like 'monter', 'descendre', and 'sortir' that behave differently depending on context.

'Je regardais la télé quand le téléphone a sonné' correctly places the ongoing background action 'regardais' in the imparfait and the interrupting punctual event 'a sonné' in the passé composé. The option with both verbs in the imparfait fails because it presents two simultaneous ongoing actions rather than one interrupting the other. This pattern—background imparfait interrupted by a passé composé event—is one of the most frequently tested structures in this unit.

'Dire' has the irregular past participle 'dit', as in 'elle a dit la vérité', which does not follow a regular ending pattern. 'Disé' is wrong because it wrongly applies a regular -er style ending to an irregular -re verb. Students should group irregular past participles like 'dit', 'écrit', and 'fait' together since they share a similar short, consonant-final pattern worth memorizing as a set.

'Naître' and 'mourir' describe fundamental changes of state—coming into and going out of existence—which places them on the traditional list of être-auxiliary verbs alongside movement verbs. The claim that they 'always describe repeated actions' is wrong because birth and death are inherently singular, non-repeatable events, unrelated to the reason they take être. Students should recognize that the être list includes both movement verbs and state-change verbs like these two.

'J'avais dix ans' correctly uses the imparfait to describe an ongoing state (age) at the time another completed event, 'nous avons déménagé', occurred. The alternative 'J'ai eu dix ans' is wrong because the passé composé would imply the moment of turning ten, not an ongoing background age. Descriptive states like age, time, weather, and emotions are classic imparfait contexts that should be automatically recognized.

'Il a plu' treats the rain as a bounded, completed occurrence, often answering 'what happened', while 'il pleuvait' frames the rain as an ongoing backdrop to another action, matching the core aspectual contrast between the two tenses. The claim that 'there is no difference in meaning' is wrong because French speakers choose deliberately between these forms to convey different narrative perspectives on the same weather event. This subtle aspectual distinction is central to mastering when to use imparfait versus passé composé for descriptive verbs like weather.

When a direct object like 'la lettre' precedes an avoir verb (via a relative pronoun 'que'), the past participle must agree with it in gender and number, giving the feminine singular 'écrite'. 'La lettre que j'ai écrit' is wrong because it fails to add the feminine agreement even though the preceding direct object 'la lettre' requires it. This preceding-direct-object agreement rule is a key exception to the general rule that avoir-verb participles normally stay invariable.

Reflexive verbs always take être as their auxiliary, and since there is no direct object following the verb, the participle 'réveillée' agrees with the feminine subject 'elle'. 'Elle a réveillée tôt' is wrong because reflexive verbs never take avoir, regardless of the verb's meaning. Students should remember that all pronominal (reflexive/reciprocal) verbs form the passé composé exclusively with être.

'Je connaissais' expresses an existing, ongoing state of familiarity in the past, while 'j'ai connu' marks the bounded moment when that acquaintance began, such as 'j'ai connu mon mari en 2010'. The claim that they are 'interchangeable in all contexts' is wrong because choosing one over the other changes the meaning from an ongoing state to a specific starting event. This verb belongs to a small group, including 'savoir' and 'vouloir', whose meaning shifts noticeably between the two past tenses.

'Revenir' is a compound of 'venir' and therefore takes être as its auxiliary, with the past participle 'revenue' agreeing with the feminine subject 'elle'. 'Elle est revenu tard' is wrong because it omits the required feminine agreement '-e' on the participle despite using the correct auxiliary. Compounds of être-verbs like 'revenir', 'devenir', and 'rentrer' follow the same auxiliary and agreement rules as their root verbs.

'Je me suis levé, j'ai mangé, et je suis parti' correctly uses the passé composé throughout to present a sequence of discrete, completed actions in a narrative timeline. The all-imparfait version is wrong because it would present these as ongoing or repeated background actions rather than a specific sequence of finished events. When narrating a story's main sequential events, French consistently favors the passé composé over the imparfait.

'Écrire' has the irregular past participle 'écrit', as seen in 'elle a écrit une lettre', formed by dropping the infinitive ending and using an irregular consonant ending. 'Écrivé' is wrong because it incorrectly applies a regular -er participle pattern to this irregular -re verb. This participle belongs to the same irregular family pattern as 'dire' (dit) and 'faire' (fait), useful to memorize together.

'Téléphoner' is normally followed by 'à' (téléphoner à quelqu'un), so the reflexive pronoun 'se' acts as an indirect object rather than a direct object, and indirect objects do not trigger participle agreement. The claim that 'se téléphoner is not reflexive' is wrong because it clearly is reflexive/reciprocal in meaning, just with an indirect object structure. This distinction shows that reflexive agreement hinges on whether the pronoun functions as a direct or indirect object, not simply on reflexivity itself.

The imparfait stem of 'faire' is 'fais-', derived from the 'nous' present-tense form, and combined with the standard '-ais' ending gives 'tu faisais'. 'Tu as fait' is wrong because that is the passé composé, expressing a completed single action rather than an ongoing or habitual one. Deriving imparfait stems from the 'nous' present-tense form is a reliable method that works for nearly every French verb except 'être'.

'Elle était fatiguée' correctly uses the imparfait to describe an ongoing emotional/physical state without a specific bounded duration or sudden onset. 'Elle a eu peur soudainement' is wrong for this purpose because the adverb 'soudainement' and the passé composé together mark a sudden onset of fear, not a lingering descriptive state. Students should associate the imparfait with open-ended descriptions and the passé composé with sudden or bounded emotional reactions.

Reflexive verbs always take être, and here 'se' functions as a direct object (elles maquillent elles-mêmes), so the participle 'maquillées' agrees with the feminine plural subject. The option claiming 'reflexive verbs use avoir' is wrong because pronominal verbs categorically require être as the auxiliary in the passé composé. This example reinforces that reflexive agreement depends on whether the reflexive pronoun is the direct object, which it is in verbs like 'se maquiller', 'se laver', and 'se lever'.

'Avions' is the correct imparfait form, matching the ongoing, habitual situation of having lots of homework throughout the high school years indicated by 'quand nous étions au lycée'. 'Avons eu' is wrong because the passé composé would suggest a single bounded instance of having homework rather than an extended repeated state. Descriptions of ongoing life circumstances in the past routinely call for the imparfait rather than the passé composé.

'Les filles sont arrivées en retard' correctly uses 'sont' as the auxiliary for the plural subject and adds '-es' to the participle to agree in feminine plural. 'Les filles sont arrivé' is wrong because it omits the necessary feminine plural agreement ending despite using the correct auxiliary. This shows that with être verbs, students must adjust both the auxiliary conjugation and the participle ending to match the subject.

Both 'faisait' and 'chantaient' are in the imparfait because they describe simultaneous, ongoing background conditions—weather and birdsong—setting a scene rather than narrating discrete events. The claim that 'both verbs mark single completed actions' is wrong because completed actions would require the passé composé, which is not used here. Scene-setting sentences with multiple simultaneous background descriptions are a classic use of the imparfait in narrative French.

'Elle est née en France' correctly uses être as the auxiliary for 'naître', a fixed être-list verb, marking birth as a single, completed event. 'Elle a né en France' is wrong because 'naître' never takes avoir as its auxiliary, regardless of context. This confirms that certain verbs, including 'naître' and 'mourir', are permanently fixed to être and never vary like 'monter' or 'sortir' can.

'Je jouais au foot tous les week-ends' correctly uses the imparfait to express a repeated habitual action in the past, matching the English 'used to' construction. 'J'ai joué au foot tous les week-ends' is wrong because the passé composé would suggest a single bounded occasion of playing rather than an ongoing habitual pattern. The English phrase 'used to' is a strong signal that French requires the imparfait, not the passé composé.

The direct object pronoun 'les' precedes the auxiliary 'ai', triggering agreement on the past participle 'vus' to match its plural masculine (or mixed) antecedent. 'Je les ai vu' is wrong because it fails to add the plural agreement '-s' despite the preceding direct object pronoun requiring it. This preceding-direct-object rule applies whenever a direct object—whether a noun, pronoun, or relative clause—comes before an avoir-verb participle.

'Devoir' in the passé composé is ambiguous between expressing a completed obligation ('I had to leave') and a retrospective deduction ('I must have left my keys'), with context and surrounding clues resolving the intended meaning. The claim that it 'only ever means obligation' is wrong because native usage frequently relies on 'devoir' for logical inference about past events as well. This dual usage shows that some modal verbs carry nuanced meaning shifts across tenses that must be interpreted through context, not fixed rules alone.

'Il était minuit quand le téléphone a sonné' correctly uses the imparfait 'était' to set the ongoing background time and the passé composé 'a sonné' for the single interrupting event. 'Il a été minuit' is wrong because clock time as a background condition is virtually always expressed with the imparfait, not the passé composé. This time-setting plus interrupting-event structure is one of the most reliable patterns for identifying correct tense use.

'N'as-tu pas mangé?' correctly places 'ne' before the inverted auxiliary-subject unit 'as-tu' and 'pas' immediately after it, keeping the past participle 'mangé' at the end. 'Ne mangeais-tu pas?' is wrong because it uses the imparfait form 'mangeais' rather than the passé composé structure required by the question. Inversion questions in the passé composé still follow the rule that negation wraps around the conjugated auxiliary, not the participle.

'Je savais' describes a pre-existing state of knowledge held over time, while 'j'ai su' marks the specific moment that knowledge was acquired, similar to the shift seen with 'connaître'. The claim that 'no difference exists' is wrong because French deliberately distinguishes these nuances to convey either an ongoing state or a discrete moment of realization. Recognizing this pattern with state-verbs like 'savoir', 'connaître', and 'vouloir' helps students correctly interpret subtle meaning shifts tested at the college level.