Understanding Être and Avoir in the Past Tense

When you learn French, two important verbs to know are être (which means "to be") and avoir (which means "to have"). These verbs help us form the passé composé, the most common way to talk about the past in French. Let’s look at some simple rules for using these verbs.

1. Choosing between Être and Avoir

• Avoir is used most of the time. It works with most verbs.

  • Example: J'ai mangé (I ate).

• Être is used with a special group of verbs. These verbs usually show movement or change.
  You can remember them with the acronym DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP. Here are some examples of these verbs:

  • Devenir (to become)
  • Revenir (to come back)
  • Monter (to go up)
  • Rester (to stay)
  • Sortir (to go out)
  • Venir (to come)
  • Arriver (to arrive)
  • Naître (to be born)
  • Descendre (to go down)
  • Entrer (to enter)
  • Retourner (to return)
  • Tomber (to fall)
  • Rentrer (to go home)
  • Mourir (to die)
  • Partir (to leave)

2. Agreement of Past Participles

When you use être, the past participle must match the subject in gender (male or female) and number (singular or plural).

• Example: Elle est allée (She went). Here, "allée" agrees with "Elle" which is feminine.

When using avoir, the past participle agrees only if there is a direct object that comes before the verb.

• Example: Les pommes que j'ai mangées (The apples that I ate). The word "mangées" agrees with "les pommes" because it's plural.

3. Forming Negative Sentences

To make a negative sentence in the passé composé, put ne before the auxiliary verb and pas after it.

• Example with Avoir: Je n'ai pas fini (I didn’t finish).
• Example with Être: Elle n'est pas partie (She didn’t leave).

4. Regular Verb Conjugation in Present Tense

Knowing how to change regular verbs helps you form the past tense. Here are regular verb forms:

• For -er verbs:
  Parler (to speak)

  • Je parle, Tu parles, Il/elle parle, Nous parlons, Vous parlez, Ils/elles parlent

• For -ir verbs:
  Finir (to finish)

  • Je finis, Tu finis, Il/elle finit, Nous finissons, Vous finissez, Ils/elles finissent

• For -re verbs:
  Vendre (to sell)

  • Je vends, Tu vends, Il/elle vend, Nous vendons, Vous vendez, Ils/elles vendent

5. Future Proche

To talk about things that will happen soon, use the futur proche:

• Example: Je vais parler (I am going to speak).

Once you get familiar with these rules, you will better understand French past tenses and improve your language skills. Keep practicing, and you’ll master these concepts in no time!