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Course / Leçon 14 of 40

Passé composé with avoir

After this lesson you can tell what you did yesterday, last week or on the weekend, using the passé composé with avoir, and you can decode dozens of words with a circumflex.

52 core words · 15 bonus cognates · 16 phrases

Pronunciation

The circumflex: a hat for a lost s

Why â, ê, î, ô, û?

The little hat (accent circonflexe) usually marks an s that disappeared from the spelling centuries ago. Old French feste became fête, forest became forêt. English and German often kept the s: feast, Fest; forest, Forst.

What it does to the sound

Letter Sound Like Examples
ê open /ɛ/ German ä in Bär, English e in bed fête /fɛt/, forêt /fɔʁɛ/, fenêtre /fənɛtʁ/
ô closed /o/ German o in Boot hôpital /opital/, côte /kot/, diplôme /diplom/
â /ɑ/ or /a/ a slightly darker a, like German Vater; many younger speakers just say /a/ château, pâte
î, û no change same as i /i/ and u /y/ île /il/, brûler /bʁyle/

The ô matters most, because it closes the vowel: côte /kot/ (coast) vs cote /kɔt/ (rating), le nôtre /notʁ/ (ours) vs notre /nɔtʁ/ (our).

Hats that only separate words

Sometimes the hat just distinguishes words in writing, with no change in sound:

  • sur (on) vs sûr (sure)
  • du (of the) vs dû (owed, participle of devoir)
  • mur (wall) vs mûr (ripe)

Say the new words

  • brûler /bʁyle/: to burn
  • la boîte /bwat/: box (oî = /wa/, the hat changes nothing)
  • le diplôme /diplom/: closed /o/, like Boot
  • le câble /kɑbl/
  • l'hôpital /lopital/: silent h, closed ô

Tip: when you see a circumflex, mentally insert an s after the vowel. Very often a familiar English or German word appears: hôte → hoste → host.

Grammar

Passé composé with avoir

Your main past tense

The passé composé works like the German Perfekt: auxiliary + past participle. J'ai mangé = Ich habe gegessen. But in meaning it covers the English simple past too: Hier, j'ai vu Marc = Yesterday I saw Marc (not have seen). In conversation and emails, this is the past tense.

The structure: present of avoir + participle. The participle comes right after avoir, not at the end like in German.

avoir + participle
j' ai travaillé
tu as travaillé
il/elle/on a travaillé
nous avons travaillé
vous avez travaillé
ils/elles ont travaillé

Regular participles

Infinitive Participle Example
-er → -é parler → parlé J'ai parlé au médecin. I spoke to the doctor.
-ir → -i finir → fini Tu as fini ? Have you finished?
-re → -u attendre → attendu On a attendu le bateau. We waited for the boat.

All -er participles sound exactly like the infinitive: parler and parlé are both /paʁle/.

The ten irregulars you need today

Verb Participle Example
faire fait Qu'est-ce que tu as fait ? What did you do?
dire dit Il a dit non. He said no.
prendre pris J'ai pris l'avion. I took the plane.
mettre mis Elle a mis une robe. She put on a dress.
avoir eu /y/ On a eu de la chance. We were lucky.
être été J'ai été malade. I was ill.
voir vu Vous avez vu la scène ? Did you see the scene?
vouloir voulu Il a voulu partir. He wanted to leave.
pouvoir pu Je n'ai pas pu venir. I couldn't come.
devoir dû Nous avons dû attendre. We had to wait.

Relatives follow: apprendre → appris, comprendre → compris, permettre → permis. Also useful: lire → lu, boire → bu, connaître → connu, écrire → écrit, ouvrir → ouvert.

Negation and little adverbs

ne ... pas wraps avoir, not the participle: Je n'ai pas compris. (Ich habe nicht verstanden.)

Short adverbs sit between avoir and the participle:

  • J'ai déjà mangé. I have already eaten.
  • Je n'ai pas encore fini. I haven't finished yet.
  • Il n'a jamais vu la mer. He has never seen the sea.
  • On a bien dormi. We slept well.

Trap for English speakers: I have lived here for five years is J'habite ici depuis cinq ans, present tense, because it is still true. German does the same: Ich wohne seit fünf Jahren hier.

-ir verbs like finir

Many -ir verbs insert -iss- in the plural of the present:

finir
je finis nous finissons
tu finis vous finissez
il finit ils finissent

Same pattern: choisir (choose), réfléchir (think), réussir (succeed). Nous réfléchissons. We are thinking about it. Their participle is simply -i: J'ai choisi, elle a réussi.

Cognate pattern

Circumflex = lost s

Put the s back, find the word

When a vowel carries a circumflex, try adding an s after it. English or German often still has it.

French English German
fête feast, party Fest
forêt forest Forst
hôpital hospital Hospital, Spital
intérêt interest Interesse
coûter to cost kosten
fenêtre window Fenster
île isle, island Insel
côte coast Küste
bête beast; stupid Biest
maître master Meister
pâte paste, dough Paste, Teig
arrêter to arrest, to stop arretieren, anhalten
rôtir to roast rösten
croûte crust Kruste
tempête tempest, storm Sturm
ancêtre ancestor Vorfahr
prêtre priest Priester
goût taste (gusto) Geschmack
août August August

Traps

  • Not every circumflex hides an s. In âge (from aage) and sûr (from seür) it marks two merged vowels; in dû it only separates it from du.
  • Meanings can drift: bête is a beast, but mostly used as an adjective, stupid (C'est bête ! = How silly!). La côte is also a rib (Kotelett!).
  • The 1990 spelling reform allows dropping the hat on i and u in many words: you will see both coût and cout, paraître and paraitre. Both are correct.

Reading tip: the same trick works with é- at the start of words (lesson 15): école → escole → school.