1. Two-part conjugations
Compound tenses/moods are always made up of two parts: the conjugated auxiliary verb (either avoir or être) and the past participle. French verbs are classified by their auxiliary verb, and use it for all compound moods/tenses. That is, avoir verbs use avoir in all of the compound tenses/moods, and être verbs use être in all the compound tenses/moods.In the chart on page 1, the tense/mood in the first column is the conjugation used for the auxiliary verb of the compound tense/mood listed in the second column.
For example, aller is an être verb. So the present tense of être, Il est, is the conjugation used for the passé composé of aller: Il est allé (He went).
Manger is an avoir verb. The future of avoir, Nous aurons, is the conjugation for the future perfect, Nous aurons mangé (We will have eaten).
2. Agreement
There are two different types of agreement with compound tenses and moods, depending on whether you're dealing with être verbs or avoir verbs.Être verbs: In all compound tenses/moods, the past participle of être verbs has to agree with the subject of the sentence in gender and number.
Il est allé.
He went.
Elle était allée.
She had gone. Ils seront allés.
They will have gone.
...qu'elles soient allées.
...that they went.
Avoir verbs: The past participle of avoir verbs that are preceded by a direct object must agree with the direct object*
Les livres que tu as commandés sont ici.
The books that you ordered are here.
La pomme ? Je l'aurai mangée.
The apple? I will have eaten it. Mes sœurs... vous les aviez vues ?
My sisters... had you seen them?
*Except for verbs of perception and the causative.
When the direct object follows the avoir verb, there is no agreement.
As-tu commandé des livres ?
Did you order some books?
J'aurai mangé la pomme.
I will have eaten the apple. Aviez-vous vu mes sœurs ?
Had you seen my sisters?
There is no agreement with indirect objects.
Je leur ai parlé.
I talked to them.
Il nous a téléphoné.
He called us.
Learn more about agreement
3. Word order: Pronouns
Object, reflexive, and adverbial pronouns always precede the auxiliary verb in compound tenses/moods: Je te l'ai donné.I gave it to you.
Il l'avait fait.
He had done it. Nous y serons allés.
We will have gone there.
4. Word order: Negation
Negative structures almost always surround the auxiliary verb** Je n'ai pas étudié.I didn't study.
Nous n'aurions jamais su.
We would have never known.
**Exceptions:
a) In the past infinitive, both parts of the negation precede the auxiliary verb:
J'espère ne pas avoir perdu.
I hope I didn't lose.
b) Personne, aucun, and nulle part follow the past participle:
Je n'ai vu personne.
I didn't see anyone.
Je ne l'ai trouvé nulle part.
I couldn't find it anywhere.
3+4. Word order with pronouns and negation
When the sentence includes a pronoun and negation, the pronoun is placed in front of the auxiliary verb, and then the negative structure surrounds that pair:Subject + ne + pronoun(s) + auxiliary verb + negative word + past participle.
Nous n'y serions jamais allés.
We would never have gone there.
Je ne te l'ai pas donné.
I didn't give it to you.
For detailed information about the conjugations and uses of the individual compound tenses/moods, follow the links in the summary table on page 1.
