Compound Past - Passé composé - French Grammar + Pronunciation Glossary

Definition: The most common French past tense, used to talk about a completed action.

Formation: Present tense auxiliary verb + past participle

Examples:

J'ai vu Luc.
I saw / have seen Luc.

Il est venu à Paris.
He came / has come to Paris.

As-tu mangé ?
Did you eat / Have you eaten?

Also known as: Present perfect

Misspellings: Passe compose, Passée composée

Related lessons: Passé composé - Compound tenses - Verb timeline

Related terms: auxiliary verb - past participle - compound tense