Passe Compose
ah, -ir and -re. Well, to be honest, I still get caught up on them sometimes. Most of the time I still have to go through it in my head...s, s, t, issons, issez, issez....it's a bugger, you just have to sit and learn...and i know that's not much help! sorry!!
But don't worry about passe compose!! You'll be fine, I promise you! In fact, if you have got a hold on avoir and etre, you will have no worries in the world! Brief lesson:
Passe Compose has TWO parts {NEVER forget TWO parts!!}
1. Auxiliary Verb.
This part, which the scary name, is just AVOIR conjugated. So if you want to say 'he ate' you think: he=il --> how do I conjugate avoir for il? - il a (and the 'ate' part we'll get to in a sec)
SO the 'a' is the auxiliary verb.
Another example. if you want to say 'we played' you think: we=nous -->how do I conjugate avoir for nous? - nous avons (and the played part we'll get to in a sec)
Think you've got the auxiliary verb under control?
2. The Past Participle.
Another scary name, but it's really easy. It's hard to do on the computer, because I don't know how to do accents, but I'll try explain.
For the past participle of -er verbs, you take off the r, and put an acute accent on the e.
So manger becomes mange (with the acute)
For the past participle of -ir verbs, you take of the r, and leave just the 'i'.
So finir becomes fini.
Most -re verbs have irregular past participles, so we won't go there yet!
That's it!! SO...lets make a sentence. "We played football on the weekend"
Nous avons joue(avec e acute) le foot pendant le weekend.
Get it?
HOWEVER, there are also some verbs, that instead of using AVOIR as the auxiliary verb, use the conjugation of ETRE.
EG, you don't say "I went to school" as J'ai alle a l'ecole.
You say 'Je SUIS alle a l'ecole.
I have a rhyme to help rememver the verbs that are conjugated with etre, but this post is probably long and confusing enough, so I'll help you later with that!!
xoxo
