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French Past Imperative - Impératif passé

How to conjugate the French past imperative

By , About.com Guide

The past imperative is a compound conjugation, which means it has two parts:
  1. imperative of the auxiliary verb (either avoir or être)
     
  2. past participle of the main verb

Note: Like all French compound conjugations, the past imperative may be subject to grammatical agreement:
  • When the auxiliary verb is être, the past participle must agree with the subject
     
  • When the auxiliary verb is avoir, the past participle may have to agree with its direct object
     
As with the present imperative, the past imperative has conjugations for only three grammatical persons: tu, nous, and vous.
 

Pronoun   parler choisir avoir être
(tu) aie parlé aie choisi aie eu aie été
(nous) ayons parlé ayons choisi ayons eu ayons été
(vous) ayez parlé ayez choisi ayez eu ayez été
 
  sortir descendre aller venir
(tu) sois sorti(e) sois descendu(e) sois allé(e) sois venu(e)
(nous) soyons sorti(e)s soyons descendu(e)s soyons allé(e)s soyons venu(e)s
(vous) soyez sorti(e)(s)   soyez descendu(e)(s)   soyez allé(e)(s)   soyez venu(e)(s)

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