Passé composé with avoir

J'ai mangé une pomme.I ate an apple.

To talk about a completed action in the past, French most often uses the passé composé. It's made of two parts: the present tense of avoir, followed by the past participle of the main verb. Most French verbs build their passé composé this way.

Quick shortcut: avoir in the present + past participle. J'ai mangé, tu as mangé, nous avons mangé.

The form

Conjugate avoir in the present, then add the past participle:

With avoir, the past participle normally doesn't change for the subject: j'ai mangé, elle a mangé, ils ont mangé — the ending stays mangé every time. (There's one exception, when a direct object comes before the verb, but that's a topic for later.)

Forming the past participle

Most regular verbs form their past participle from the infinitive ending:

• J'ai parlé avec elle.
• Tu as fini tes devoirs ?
• Ils ont vendu leur voiture.

Irregular past participles

Many common verbs have a past participle that doesn't follow the regular pattern above and has to be learned:

There is no shortcut for these — the safest approach is to learn each irregular participle together with its verb.

When to use it

The passé composé is the everyday way to talk about a completed action or event in the past:

• J'ai visité Paris l'année dernière.
• Elle a fini son travail à midi.
• Nous avons regardé un film hier soir.

Most verbs form the passé composé with avoir, as shown here. A smaller group of verbs — including some verbs of movement or change of state, plus all pronominal verbs — instead use être as their auxiliary, with its own agreement rule; that group is covered in its own article.

The negative

ne... pas wraps around the conjugated avoir, not around the past participle:

• Je n'ai pas mangé.
• Elle n'a pas fini son travail.
• Ils n'ont pas vu ce film.

Where short adverbs go

A short, common adverb like déjà, encore, bien, mal, trop, beaucoup or toujours usually goes between avoir and the past participle, not after it:

• J'ai déjà mangé. (I've already eaten.)
• Tu as bien travaillé.
• Nous avons beaucoup aimé ce restaurant.

Longer time expressions like hier, ce matin or la semaine dernière work differently — they usually go at the start or end of the sentence, not inside avoir + participle: Hier, j'ai mangé au restaurant.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Il a manger → ✅ Il a mangé (after avoir, use the past participle, not the infinitive)
• ❌ J'ai prendre le train → ✅ J'ai pris le train (irregular participle — prendre doesn't follow the -er/-ir/-re pattern)
• ❌ Elle a pas fini (in standard writing) → ✅ Elle n'a pas fini (standard written French keeps ne)
• ❌ Nous avons mangé bien → ✅ Nous avons bien mangé (a short adverb like bien goes before the participle)
• ❌ J'ai vu pas ce film → ✅ Je n'ai pas vu ce film (ne... pas surrounds the conjugated avoir)

Quick check

Put the verb in brackets into the passé composé with avoir:

1. Hier, je ____ (regarder) un film.
2. Elle ____ (finir) son travail.
3. Nous ____ (ne pas / avoir) le temps.
4. Tu ____ (prendre) le bus ce matin ?
5. Ils ____ (faire) leurs devoirs.

Key takeaways

• Passé composé with avoir = present tense of avoir + past participle: j'ai mangé, nous avons fini.
• With avoir, the past participle doesn't normally change for the subject (a preceding direct object is an exception covered separately).
• Regular participles follow the infinitive ending: -er → -é, -ir → -i, -re → -u; many common verbs have an irregular participle that must be learned individually.
• Most verbs use avoir; a smaller group uses être instead, covered separately.
• Negative: ne... pas around avoir — je n'ai pas mangé.
• Short adverbs like déjà, bien, toujours go between avoir and the participle: j'ai déjà mangé.