Unit 10: The perfect

1 Formation of the perfect

1.1 Avoir v être verbs

The perfect tense is a compound tense, which means that it is made up of more than one verb . With most verbs the perfect tense is formed by using the present tense of avoir as an auxiliary followed by the past participle of the verb in question.

Aujourd'hui nous avons visité le musée du Louvre  

Today we visited the Louvre museum

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Some verbs having the sense of "coming" or "going" generally take être in the perfect. These are:

 

 

 

For example:

Je suis revenu [and not *J'ai revenu] de mes vacances vendredi dernier  

I got back from my holiday last Friday

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In addition, all pronominal verbs take être in the perfect:

Il s'est couché tard hier soir  

He went to bed late last night

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1.2 Agreement of past participle

Agreement involves adding an ending to a word to indicate a grammatical link with another word. The endings are:

 

 

 

For avoir verbs used in a compound tense such as the perfect there is generally no agreement unless there is a preceding direct object :

Elle a ouvert les rideaux  

She opened the curtains

Ils ont dormi tout l'après-midi  

They slept the whole afternoon

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With être verbs the past participle always agrees with the subject :

Elle est descendue avec une valise pleine d'argent  

She went down with a suitcase full of money

Ils sont sortis faire des courses  

They went out to do some shopping

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1.3 Etre verbs taking avoir

The above être verbs take avoir when they take a direct object . In this case there is no agreement:

Elle a descendu l'escalier avec une valise  
[l'escalier = direct object of descendre]

She went down the stairs with a suitcase

Elle a sorti un carnet pour prendre des notes  
[un carnet = direct object of sortir]

She got a notebook out to make some notes

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1.4 Agreement of pronominal verbs

In the perfect tense of pronominal verbs the past participle will often agree with the reflexive pronoun:

Elle s'est coupée avec le couteau à pain  

She cut herself with the bread knife

Ils se sont rencontrés à une soirée  

They met at a party

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2 Use of the perfect

The perfect tense is used to express an action or state seen as completed. It is used as follows:

 

2.1 Describing completed actions

When describing completed actions in the past:

Samedi nous sommes allés à la plage avec les enfants  

On Saturday we went to the beach with the children

Paul a travaillé à Paris pendant longtemps  

Paul worked in Paris for a long time

 

2.2 Describing sudden new state of affairs

When describing something new that suddenly happens:

Soudain il a su qu'elle l'avait trompé  

Suddenly he knew that she had deceived him

Au bout de quelque temps il a vu que...  

After a certain time he saw that?

 

2.3 Describing recently completed action

When describing something that has recently been completed:

Il a fini ses études  

He has finished his studies

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