French Past Tense: Everything You Need to Know

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Last Updated: June 6, 2023

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French Past Tense could be a mind-numbing learning task. But when approached with an open mind and willingness to learn, you should be able to grasp it quite easily. 

It helps a lot though if you have brushed up on your English grammar. Knowing the tenses in your own language is the key to easily grasping grammar rules in other languages.

Take for example the past tense which is the center of our topic in this discussion. Are you still familiar with how it works in English? If not, here's a little background.

French Past Tense

A Quick Background on the French Past Tense

When you talk about an action that took place and was fully completed in the past, you use the past tense. It is also used to express something that was true in the past. For other past events, we generally use the imperfect/imparfait tense.

See also: The French Imperfect Tense (Imparfait)

The past tense in English can be identified by the word “have” that often appears before the verb. For example, I have answered the question. Compare it with I answered the question. Do you notice the difference?

In French, the past tense works basically the same way as in English. It is also formed by two words just like its English counterpart by using the verb avoir (in most cases) which means 'to have', or être which means 'to be' before the main verb.

If you find yourself googling How to say had in French, then read more to learn more rules on how to form past tense in French.

Rules on How to Form the Past Tense

While the other tenses in French (such as the imperfect, future, and conditional) use only a single verb with changes in the ending, the past tense makes use of two parts:

  • The verbs avoir or être, and
  • The past participle

In forming the French past tense, use this format:

The present tense of the verb avoir or être

the past

participle

So this here is the meat of the lesson: the correct form of avoir + how to form the past participle.

Present tense of avoir (more commonly used than être):
1st person singular
j'ai (I've or I have)
2nd person singular tu as (you've or you have)
3rd person singular il/elle a (he's/ she's)
1st person plural nous avons (we have)
2nd person plural vous avez (you have)
3rd person pluralils/elles ont (they've or they have)

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How to form the French past participle

First, you start with the infinitive of the verb, and then proceed to the following changes in the ending.

  • If the infinitive ends with an -er, replace the -er with -é.

Example:  donner (to give) becomes donné, tomber (to fall) becomes tombé 

  • If the infinitive ends with an -ir, remove the r at the end

Example:  finir (to finish) becomes finipartir (to leave) becomes parti 

  • If the infinitive ends with a -re, replace the -re with -u

Example:  attendre (to wait) becomes attendudescendre (to go down) becomes descendu 

Examples in using  avoir to form the past tense

So now let's put to use the formula above and check out these examples.

Pronoun + avoir + past participle = past tense formed meaning in English
j'ai donnéj'ai donnéI have given.
Tu asdonné.tu as donnéYou have given
Il adonnéil a donnéHe has given.
Nous avonsdonnénou avons donnéWe have given.
Vous avezdonnévous avez donnéYou have given.
Ils ontdonnéils ont donnéThey have given.

Quick tips

  • je is shortened to j' when it comes before a word that (1) starts with a vowel, (2) most words that start with h, and (3) the French word y.
  • avoir is being used more often than être.

When to use être in forming the past tense in French

Before we proceed to the usage of être in  the past tense, let's first take a look at its present tense forms. 

Pronounêtre form in Present Tense
jesuis
tues
ilest
noussommes
vousêtes
ilssont

As mentioned previously, être is not used as often as avoir in the past tense. So now the question is, when do you use it? 

There are two groups of verbs that makes use of  être, and these are: 

1. Reflexive verbs

When we say reflexive verbs, these are the French verbs that appear with the pronoun se or the shortened form s' before it. These action words are used when the subject is the same person as the object. To put it simply, it means “to____ oneself”.

Take for example the verb habiller which means to get dressed.

Pronoun + être + past participle =past tense formedmeaning in English
je me suis habillé je me suis habillé (I got dressed)
tu t'es habillé tu t'es habillé (you got dressed)
il s'est habillé il s'est habillé (he got dressed)
elle s'est habillée elle s'est habillée (she got dressed)
ils se sont habillés ils se sont habillés(they got dressed)

2. A selected group of verbs that mostly refer to or involves physical action 

Some common examples:

aller

to go

venir

to come

arriver

to arrive

partir

to leave/go

descendre

to go down

monter

to go up

entrer

to go in/ to come up

sortir

to go out

mourir 

to die

naître

to be born

devenir

to become

rester

to stay

tomber 

to fall

retourner 

to go back/ to return

rentrer 

to come back/ to come home

Quick tip

When those listed examples are used in reference to a direct object, they will use avoir instead of être. For example, if you simply say 'he came down' with no direct object in the sentence, you use  être (il est descendu ) . But if you say 'he came down the stairs' the stairs being the object, that is when you use  avoir (il a descendu l'escalier).

Additional rules for using  être in the past tense

To form the past participle when using  être, the past participle has to agree with the subject of the verb. Therefore, their endings change to accommodate the masculine and feminine, as well as the singular and plural forms.

See also: French Verb Être: Conjugation and Usage (+ FREE MP3)

Here are the two steps in forming the past participle for verbs that use  être

Step 1

Change the infinitive

  • For infinitive that ends with -er, replace the -er with -é.
  • If the infinitive ends with -ir, remove the r at the end.
  •  With those infinitives that end with -re, replace the -re with -u.
Step 2

Add the correct endings

  • Masculine plural past participle: to form it, you add -s
  • Feminine singular past participle: to form it, add -e
  • To form the feminine plural past participle, you add -es

Examples:

Masculine endingsExamplesFeminine EndingsExamples
Singular-tombé
parti
descendu
-etombée
partie
descendue
Plural- stombés
partis
descendus
-estombées
parties
descendues

The irregular verbs in the past tense 

Just like in any other case whether in grammar or in real life, there are always a set of rule-breakers. These irregulars appear in the past tense as well.

Here are the irregular past participle forms that you need to be familiar with.

VerbWhat it meansPast participle
AvoirTo haveeu
DevoirTo have to, must
DireTo say, to telldit
ÊtreTo beété
FaireTo do, to makefait
MettreTo putmis
PouvoirTo be able to, canpu
PrendreTo takepris
SavoirTo knowsu
TenirTo holdtenu
VenirTo comevenu
VoirTo seevu
VouloirTo wantvoulu

With this article, you won't have to google what is was in French or any past participle in French!

Quick Recap on French Past Tense

  • The past tense is used when you talk about an action that took place and was completed in the past.
  • To form the past tense, you use this formula: present tense of the verb avoir or être + the past participle.
  • The past participle is obtained through using the indicative and changing the endings (-er verbs to -é, -ir verbs to -i, and -re verbs to -u)
  • Most of the verbs use avoir, but two groups (namely the reflexive verbs and some verbs that mostly refer to or involves bodily movement or some kind of physical activity) use être.
  • To form the past participle when using  être, the past participle has to agree with the subject of the verb and changes its form for feminine and plural.

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  • Learn French on your own terms with our comprehensive, self-paced beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses, each with a step-by-step plan tailored to your level.
  • Master French pronunciation and sound like a native with our pronunciation course.
  • Receive personalized feedback and guidance from a dedicated French teacher.

Here are some FAQs about the past tense in French

How do you write past tense in French?

The formula to use when you want to write past tense in French is use the present tense of the verb avoir or être + the past participle.

How do you write the negation of a statement in past tense French?

In French, adding ne (no) and pas (not) around the avoir or être + past participle will make a past tense sentence negative.

About the author 

Frederic Bibard is the founder of Talk in French, a company that helps french learners to practice and improve their french. Macaron addict. Jacques Audiard fan. You can contact him on Instagram

  • Bonjour!
    Je viens de lire cet article que vous avez très soigneusement préparé et je vous félicite pour cet effort. Je crois que c’est un excellent article pour faire comprendre aux élèves (ceux qui sont majoritairement anglophones ) les règles du passé.
    Un très bon travail de votre part et aussi méticuleux! Bravo!

  • Bonjour Frederic!

    Are the irregular forms listed at the end of the article supposed to be used with avoir or être? Mercí pour votre travail. Jeff

  • Devenir – to become – devenu
    Revenir – to come back – revenu
    Monter – to go up – monté
    Rester – to stay – resté
    Sortir– to exit – sorti
    Passer – to pass by (this case only) – passé
    Venir – to come – venu
    Aller – to go – allé
    Naître – to be born – né
    Descendre – to descend – descendu
    Entrer – to enter – entré
    Retourner – to return – retourné
    Tomber – to fall – tombé
    Rentrer- to re-enter- rentré
    Arriver – to arrive – arrivé
    Mourir – to die – mort
    Partir – to leave – parti

    Dr. and Mrs. Vandercamp is an easy way to learn verbs using être.

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