The perfect tense is used for a completed action in the past, for example, I ate a cookie.
Formation
Generally the first part of formation is from the verb avoir: J'ai Nous avons
Tu as Vous avez
Il/Elle a Ils/Elles ont
The second part is the verb this is called the past participle. Remove either er, ir, or re and for er add é. For ir add i. For re add u. However there are some irregulars.(see later.)
For example I ate= j'ai mangé
VerbsWhich Take Etre
Although most verbs take avoir some take the verb être.
Je suis Nous sommes
Tu es Vous etes
Il/Elle est Illes/Elles sont
These verbs can be remembered like so.
![](http://image.slidesharecdn.com/mrsvandetramp-1227627018886723-9/95/mrs-van-de-tramp-4-728.jpg?cb=1227620452)
Verbs which take être must also agree with the subject of the sentence. Add an e for feminine and an s for plural and es for feminine plural.
Irregulars
As always in French there are irregular past participles, the most common and important of these are shown below.
- avoir --> eu (had)
- boire --> bu (drunk)
- comprendre --> compris (understood)
- connaître --> connu (known)
- croire --> cru (believed)
- devoir --> dû (had to)
- dire --> dit (said)
- écrire --> écrit (written)
- être --> été (been)
- faire --> fait (done)
- lire --> lu (read)
- mettre --> mis (put)
- ouvrir --> ouvert (opened)
- pouvoir --> pu (been able to)
- prendre --> pris (taken)
- savoir --> su (known)
- voir --> vu (seen)
- vouloir --> voulu (wanted)
Useful Practice Site
With these practice is essential. A great way to do this is languages online.
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