How is the perfect tense formed with AVOIR?

The perfect tense is a form of past tense, it is used to describe an action that is completely finished. To form this tense most verbs use a conjugation of AVOIR in front of them. It is formed by the present tense of avoir for the person you are talking about ( ie. J'ai, Tu as , Il/Elle a, Nous avons , Vous avez, Ils/elles ont) + the past participle of the verb The past participle is just another form of the verb and is made depending on whether the verb ends is -er , -ir or -re. Below are three examples with the rules of how to form the past participle: Regular verbs that end in -er: take off the -er and add -é ( eg. manger --> mangé ). When adding this onto the present tense of avoir it would form the tense: J'ai mangé - I ate , Elle a mangè- she ate , Ils ont mangé- they ate. Regular verbs that end in -ir: take off the -ir and add -i (eg. finir --> fini ) An example of a sentence is: elle a fini ses devoirs - She finished her homework. Regular verbs that end in -re: take off the -re and add -u (eg. entendre --> entendu). An example is: nous avons entendu le bruit- we heard the noise. An important note is that when AVOIR is used to form the perfect tense there does not need to be any verbal agreement- the past participle is always the same regardless of if it is a man, a woman or a group of people that is being discussed. Also, it is important to remember that the past participles of irrgeular verbs do not follow this pattern and it is more a case of learning and recognising these verbs.

Answered by Isabella D. French tutor

3909 Views

See similar French GCSE tutors

Related French GCSE answers

All answers ▸

What are the most irregular past participles?


Qu'est ce que vous aimez faire dans vos temps libre?


What is the difference between "tu" and "vous" and when should you use them?


La fête du sport


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences