Past Tense in French

 Understanding and forming sentences in the passé composé (past tense) in French involves mastering its structure and rules. Hope this helps: Took help of youtube videos , and some material from the internet

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1. Structure of Passé Composé

The passé composé is made up of two parts:

1. Auxiliary verb: Either avoir (to have) or être (to be) in the present tense.
2. Past participle: The main verb's modified form.

Example:

• J'ai mangé (I ate/I have eaten).

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2. Choosing the Auxiliary Verb

• Most verbs use avoir as the auxiliary.
• A small group of verbs use être. These are mostly verbs of movement and change of state, such as aller (to go), venir (to come), entrer (to enter), sortir (to go out), monter (to go up), descendre (to go down), naître (to be born), mourir (to die), etc. These verbs are often remembered using the acronym DR MRS VANDERTRAMP.

Examples:

• With avoir: J'ai parlé (I spoke).
• With être: Je suis allé(e) (I went).

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3. Forming the Past Participle

The past participle depends on the verb's group:

• -ER verbs: Replace -er with -é.
  • Example: parler → parlé (to speak → spoken).
• -IR verbs: Replace -ir with -i.
  • Example: finir → fini (to finish → finished).
• -RE verbs: Replace -re with -u.
  • Example: vendre → vendu (to sell → sold).

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4. Agreement of the Past Participle

• With être, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject.
  • Example: Elle est allée (She went); Ils sont allés (They went).
• With avoir, there is no agreement unless there is a preceding direct object.
  • Example: J'ai vu la fille (I saw the girl); La fille que j'ai vue (The girl whom I saw).

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5. Negation in Passé Composé

Place ne...pas (or another negative expression) around the auxiliary verb.

• Example: Je n'ai pas mangé (I didn’t eat).

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6. Common Expressions with Passé Composé

• J'ai visité Paris. (I visited Paris.)
• Nous avons fini le travail. (We finished the work.)
• Elle est arrivée à l'heure. (She arrived on time.)
• Ils sont partis hier. (They left yesterday.)

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7. Irregular Past Participles

Some verbs have irregular past participles. Here are a few examples:

• avoir → eu (to have → had)
• être → été (to be → been)
• faire → fait (to do → done)
• voir → vu (to see → seen)
• prendre → pris (to take → taken)

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Practice Exercises

1. Conjugate manger in the passé composé:
   J'ai mangé, Tu as mangé, Il/Elle a mangé, Nous avons mangé, Vous avez mangé, Ils/Elles ont mangé.

2. Translate into French:

   • I have finished my homework. → J'ai fini mes devoirs.
   • She went to the store. → Elle est allée au magasin.

3. Make these sentences negative:

   • Nous avons parlé. → Nous n'avons pas parlé.
   • Il est parti. → Il n'est pas parti.