The Perfect Tense with Etre

The tense which shows you mean

the past

To speak in the past you have to use either “Avoir”

or “Etre”

• 95 % of verbs work with avoir• The rest go with être• To use the perfect tense

successfully you must be able to use these two verbs confidently and accurately

Etre [means “to be” ]

Je suis nous sommes

Tu es vous êtes

il/elle/on est ils/elles sont

It goes like this ………….

Using Etre

Je suis +

nous sommes +

The verb “etre” in the right form

Using Etre

Je suis

nous sommes

allalléé

alléalléss

& the action in the past

Using Etre

Je suis

nous sommes

partpartii

partipartiss

& the action in the past

Using Etre

Je suis

nous sommes

restéresté

restéresté

ss

Using Etre

Je suis

nous sommes

arrivéarrivé

arrivéarrivéss

Dr RRR Pavemants MD

Devenir to become Entrer to enter

Revenir to come back Mourir to die

Rentrer to go home Arriver to arrive

Retourner to return Naitre to be born

Rester to stay Tomber to fall

Partir to leave Sortir to go out

Aller to go Monter to climb up

Venir to come Descendre to go down

Dr RRR Pavemants MD Devenu have become Entré have entered

Revenu have come back Mort have died!!

Rentré have gone home Arrivé have arrived

Retourné have returned Né have been born

Resté have stayed Tombé have fallen

Parti have left Sorti have gone out

Allé have gone Monté have climbed up

Venu have come Descendu have gone down

Putting it all together with être

• Choose the right part of être• Work out the past participle of the

verb• Stick them together• Check agreement…… je suis allé

[for a boy] but nous sommes allés [for 2 people]

Putting it all together with être & avoir

• Decide which verb is needed [95% or 5%]

• Choose the right part of être or avoir

• Work out the past participle of the verb

• Stick them together

je suis allé /nous sommes allésj’ai fait / nous avons fait