This presentation teaches the perfect tense in French.

1. The perfect tense

2. Uses of the perfect tense
• Describes a one off event that happened in
the past

3. Forming the perfect tense
The perfect tense is made up of two parts.
• The first part is the auxiliary (mostly the present tense form
of avoir)
• The second part is the past participle which depends on the
infinitive endings
- For infinitives ending in ER (e.g. Jouer), replace ER with É
J’ai joué
- For infinitives ending in IR (e.g. Finir) replace IR with an I
Nous avons fini
- For infinitives ending in RE (e.g. Répondre) replace RE with
an U
Ils ont répondu

4. However, there are lots of irregular past
participles which take avoir as the auxiliary.
Here are some examples:
Avoir
Boire
Connaitre
Devoir
Dire
Écrire
Être
Faire
Lire
Mettre
Ouvrir
Pouvoir
Prendre
Recevoir
Savoir
Vivre
Voir
Vouloir
Eu
Bu
Connu
Du
Dit
Écrit
Été
Fait
Lu
Mis
Ouvert
Pu
Pris
Reçu
Su
Vécu
Vu
Voulu

5. There are also some past participles which take
être as their auxiliary. This is known as MRS
VANDERTRAMP verbs.
All of them are regular except venir (venu),
naitre (né) and mourir (mort).
Monter
Retourner/ Revenir
Sortir
Venir
Aller
Naitre
Descendre
Entrer
Rentrer
Tomber
Rester
Arriver
Mourir
Partir

6. However, when using MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs,
there must be agreements depending on the
subject that the verb is referring to.
- If the subject of the verb is feminine, add an E at
the end of the verb
Elle est arrivée
- If the subject of the verb is plural, add an S at the
end of the verb
Nous sommes venus
- If the subject of the verb is feminine and plural,
add E and S to the end of the verb
Elles sont parties

7. Reflexive verbs also take être as their auxiliary.
When forming reflexive verbs in the perfect
tense, the reflexive goes before the part of être
and agreements also apply.
Eg: Se laver = to wash
Je me suis lavé(e)
Tu t’es lavé(e)
Il/Elle/On s’est lavé(e)
Nous nous sommes lavé(e)s
Vous vous êtes lavé(e)s
Ils/Elles se sont lavé(e)s

8. Usually, a past participle doesn’t change with
AVOIR but there is an exception. When a
direct object comes before the verb in a
sentence, the agreements apply depending on
the gender of the direct object.
Où est la robe que Stéphanie a portée?
Je ne l’ai pas vue.