For English speakers learning French, the passé composé is often one of the first major grammar obstacles. At first, it looks reassuringly familiar: after all, English also uses an auxiliary verb plus a past participle (I have eaten, she has arrived). But the similarities only go so far.
Very quickly, learners run into a series of confusing questions. Why does French sometimes use avoir and sometimes être? Why does the past participle occasionally change form? And how can you tell when agreement is actually required?
The difficulty comes from the fact that French handles compound tenses very differently from English. In English, the present perfect always uses “have”, and past participles never change form. French, by contrast, uses two different auxiliaries and a system of grammatical agreement that affects spelling and writing.
The good news is that the system is much more regular than it first appears. Once you understand the underlying patterns, the passé composé becomes far more predictable — both when speaking and when writing.
In this article, we’ll look at how the passé composé is formed, when to choose avoir or être, which verbs behave differently, and how past participle agreement actually works in real French.
1. How the Passé Composé is formed
The passé composé is the most commonly used past tense in everyday spoken French. It covers many situations where English would use either the simple past (I went) or the present perfect (I have gone).
It is used to talk about completed actions, specific past events, and past experiences.
The passé composé is formed with:
auxiliary verb (avoir or être) in the present tense + past participle
Here are two examples:
| Regarder (avoir) | Aller (être) |
| j’ai regardé | je suis allé(e) |
| tu as regardé | tu es allé(e) |
| il/elle/on a regardé | il/elle/on est allé(e) |
| nous avons regardé | nous sommes allé(e)s |
| vous avez regardé | vous êtes allé(e)(s) |
| ils/elles ont regardé | ils/elles sont allé(e)s |
As you can see from the table, when the auxiliary is être, the past participle may change according to gender and number, whereas with avoir it usually remains unchanged.
If you need a refresher on how French past participles are formed, you can consult the Sillabi grammar sheet dedicated to the passé composé, which includes a complete table of the most common regular and irregular past participles.
2. When to use être
In French, most verbs use avoir in compound tenses. However, there is an important group of verbs that require être.
2.1 Reflexive verbs
All reflexive verbs are conjugated with être in compound tenses.
– Elle s’est réveillée très tôt.
– Nous nous sommes rencontrés à Paris.
2.2 The main verbs of movement
Verbs such as aller, venir, devenir, revenir, partir, arriver, entrer, sortir, descendre, monter, naître, mourir, retourner, rester, tomber, and passer use être.
These verbs generally describe movement or a change of state affecting the subject.
– Elle n’est pas venue au travail parce qu’elle est tombée malade.
– Mes cousins sont déjà arrivés.
3. When to use avoir
Most French verbs use the auxiliary avoir, including many cases where English learners might instinctively expect être.
3.1 The verb être
Oddly enough, the verb être itself always uses avoir in compound tenses.
– J’ai été très contente de le revoir.
– Elles ont été très gentilles avec nous.
3.2 Verbs expressing change
Verbs such as changer, grandir, grossir, maigrir, augmenter, and diminuer are conjugated with avoir.
– Elle a beaucoup maigri.
– Le prix de l’essence a augmenté.
3.3 Some verbs of movement
Not all movement verbs take être. Some regularly use avoir, including courir, glisser, fuir, atterrir, and décoller.
– L’avion a décollé à 8h30.
– Il a couru toute la journée.
3.4 Weather verbs
Verbs used to describe weather conditions are formed with avoir.
– Il a plu toute la nuit.
– Il a neigé hier soir.
3.5 Some very common verbs
Many frequently used verbs always take avoir, including vivre, pouvoir, vouloir, devoir, réussir, plaire, coûter, sembler, durer, paraître, and disparaître.
– Il a vécu à Londres pendant trois ans.
– Je n’ai pas réussi à lui téléphoner.
4. Verbs that can use either être or avoir
Some verbs can be used with both auxiliaries. The choice depends on whether the verb has a direct object.
This happens with verbs such as monter, descendre, entrer, rentrer, sortir, passer, and retourner.
When the verb simply describes movement performed by the subject, French uses être.
When the verb is followed by a direct object, French uses avoir instead.
Compare these examples:
- Il est descendu à la cave. → movement→ être
- Il a descendu la montagne. → “la montagne” is a direct object → avoir
– Il est rentré tôt. / Il a rentré sa voiture dans le garage.
– Elle est sortie en ville. / Elle a sorti les fraises du frigo.
This distinction is especially important because it also changes the rules for past participle agreement.
5. Past participle agreement with être
With the auxiliary être, the past participle agrees with the subject of the sentence.
So:
- masculine singular → no ending added
- feminine singular → +e
- masculine plural → +s
- feminine plural → +es
– Mon frère est arrivé.
– Ma sœur est arrivée.
– Mes cousins sont arrivés.
– Mes amies sont allées au cinéma.
For English speakers, this is one of the biggest structural differences between the two languages. English past participles never change form.
French, however, treats the participle almost like an adjective when être is used.
This agreement is especially important in writing, since some endings are silent in pronunciation.
6. Past participle agreement with avoir
With avoir, the general rule is different: the past participle normally does NOT agree.
– Elle a acheté des chaussures.
– Ils ont regardé un film.
However, there are several important cases where agreement becomes mandatory.
6.1. When agreement happens with avoir
The core rule is the following: if the direct object comes before the verb, the past participle agrees with it in gender and number.
Compare:
– Elle a acheté des chaussures.
– Elle les a achetées.
In the first sentence, the direct object (des chaussures) comes after the verb, so there is no agreement. In the second sentence, les replaces les chaussures and appears before the verb, so the participle agrees in the feminine plural form.
The direct object can appear before the verb in different ways.
a) With the pronouns la, l’, les
In compound tenses, special attention is needed with direct object pronouns such as la, l’, and les.
When these pronouns replace a direct object and appear before the verb, agreement is required.
– Je les ai vues hier.
– La décision ? Il l’a prise immédiatement.
In these examples, the past participle agrees with the noun replaced by the pronoun.
b) With the relative pronoun que
The relative pronoun que can also introduce a direct object placed before the verb.
In this case, agreement is also required.
– C’est la lettre que j’ai reçue hier.
– Les fleurs que nous avons achetées sont magnifiques.
Again, the logic is the same: the direct object appears before the verb, so agreement becomes necessary.
6.2 When there Is NO agreement with avoir
There are also special cases where the past participle remains unchanged even though the object comes before the verb.
a) The pronoun en
With the pronoun en, agreement is never made.
– Il a reçu beaucoup de lettres. Moi, je n’en ai pas reçu.
Even though en replaces a previously mentioned quantity or object, the past participle stays unchanged.
b) Combien
The same applies in constructions with combien de.
– Combien de livres as-tu acheté ?
7. Want a clear and organised review?
If you want to keep all the rules, examples, and summary charts in one place, check out the complete Sillabi grammar sheet dedicated to the passé composé, auxiliary selection, and past participle agreement.
10. Want to sound more natural in French?
Knowing the rules is important, but using the passé composé confidently requires guided practice and regular exposure to authentic French.
The Et voilà! course was designed specifically to help learners turn grammar knowledge into natural, spontaneous language use through clear explanations, contextualised examples, and progressive exercises.
And if you’re not sure where to begin, you can take the placement test right away: in just a few minutes, you’ll discover which level is the best fit for you.