Leçon de Français #2 Passé Recent et Passé Composé

Bonjour!/ Hello!


This is my second education post. Sorry for being a little advanced to the complete beginers, becuase we haven't gone over French basics. I'm sharing with you French verb tenses, because this is a great tool for you, and a great way for me to practice and review.

Before I go completely over your head with new information, lets go over the French pronouns.

Je- I
Tu- You
Il/Elle/On- He, She, People in general
Nous- We
Vous: You (formal), or You guys
Ils/Elles- They (mixed gender group), They (completely girls, not a single boy)


The most basic past tense is the recent past. This is saying "I cam from" and then whatever your verb is. The verb to come is "venir". There is a very basic formula to from the "passé recent", it is simply "venir" (conjugated to the pronoun) + "de" + "l'infinitive" (of the verb you just did). For example I could say "Je chante" or "I sing", in the passé recent this become "Je viens de chanter" or "I came from singing". This is the recent past so it's used for things you have just done, not something that happened last week.



Venir: to come

Je: viens                        Nous: venons

Tu: viens                       Vous: venez

Il/Elle/On: vient             Ils/Elles: viennent

Avoir: to have

Je: ai                              Nous: avons

Tu: as                            Vous:  avez

Il/Elle/On: a                   Ils/Elles: ont 

The next most simple, and commonly used past tense is called the "passé composé". This is to tell someone what you have done. This is different from the recent past, because it's something that's completely done, and finished. Also, passé composé can be from a long time ago, as well as more recent. The formula for the passé composé  is simple as well. "subject/pronoun" + "helping verb" + "past participial". The two most used helping verbs that we have in French are "avoir" et "être". I wont get into much detail on which verb goes with which helping verb, because this can be confusing. Let's stick with the verb "chanter" or "to sing". Chanter's helping verb is avoir (most verbs use avoir). After deciding on which helping verb to use you will use the formula to form your sentence. So lets plug it in. "J'ai chanté", or "I have sung". So lets review, I used the pronoun "Je", which is "I" in French. Next, I conjugated "avoir" for Je, (which is "ai, or J'ai). Finally, we add the past participle of "chanter" which is "chanté" to the end of the phrase. This is how you form the passé compossé. For more advanced French linguistics, remember to watch out for your "vandertramps", or être verbs", and whether or not they're  transitive, or intransitive.

French verbs and conjugating can be the most frustrating part of learning French, or any language. It's important to keep repeating and practicing, as well as never giving up. Once you are able to conjugate  verbs, and once you know these simple French verb tenses, you can start speaking, reading, writing, and thinking in French!

 À Bientôt!/ See you soon!