The passé composé is a tense used to express an action or a state that happened in the past. We call it “composé” because it’s composed of two parts: An auxiliary, either the auxiliary “ être” to be or the auxiliary “avoir” to have and a past participle of a verb. In this part we will only tackle the passé composé of the verbs of the second group that require the auxiliary “ avoir” .
Remember: The verbs of the second group end in “ir” and their present participle end in “issant” .
For example: finir, choisir, applaudir, pétrir, etc....
Note that verbs like partir, accueillir, venir, courir, etc.. , even though they end in “ir”, do not belong to the verbs of the second group because their present participle do not end in “issant”.
Let’s explore the following example:
Les enfants ont fini de manger.
Children finished eating.
The verb in this sentence is “ont fini”. As you can see, it is composed of two elements: “ont” which is a form of “avoir” and “fini” which is the past participle of the verb “ finir”.
To find the past participle of the verbs of the second group, all you need to do is remove the final “r”.
For example: To find the past participle for the verb “périr” - to perish, all you need to do is drop the final “r” and you will obtain “péri”.
Conjugation of the verb “périr” in the passé composé:
Le grand navire a péri dans les eaux profondes de l’océan Pacifique.
The big ship perished in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Le président de la compagnie n’a pas fourni de détails sur les circonstances de l’accident.
The president of the company didn’t provide details on the circumstances of the accident.
Est-ce que l’avion a atterri?
Did the plane land?
Vous n’avez pas investi beaucoup d’argent sur ce projet.
You didn’t invest a lot of money on this project.
Remember: The verbs of the second group end in “ir” and their present participle end in “issant” .
For example: finir, choisir, applaudir, pétrir, etc....
Note that verbs like partir, accueillir, venir, courir, etc.. , even though they end in “ir”, do not belong to the verbs of the second group because their present participle do not end in “issant”.
Let’s explore the following example:
Les enfants ont fini de manger.
Children finished eating.
The verb in this sentence is “ont fini”. As you can see, it is composed of two elements: “ont” which is a form of “avoir” and “fini” which is the past participle of the verb “ finir”.
To find the past participle of the verbs of the second group, all you need to do is remove the final “r”.
For example: To find the past participle for the verb “périr” - to perish, all you need to do is drop the final “r” and you will obtain “péri”.
Conjugation of the verb “périr” in the passé composé:
| Je | J’ai péri |
| Tu | as péri |
| Il /elle/ on | a péri |
| Nous | avons péri |
| Vous | avez péri |
| Ils/elles | ont péri |
Le grand navire a péri dans les eaux profondes de l’océan Pacifique.
The big ship perished in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Le président de la compagnie n’a pas fourni de détails sur les circonstances de l’accident.
The president of the company didn’t provide details on the circumstances of the accident.
Est-ce que l’avion a atterri?
Did the plane land?
Vous n’avez pas investi beaucoup d’argent sur ce projet.
You didn’t invest a lot of money on this project.