231 - How to Conjugate "Avoir" (To Have) in French (Passé Composé)

 
 

In this lesson, you'll learn how to conjugate the French verb avoir (to have) in the passé composé. 🕰️

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Links & Cheat Sheet:

Transcript

Hello everyone! Bonjour tout le monde. 🖤

Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast. This is episode 231, numéro deux cent trente et un !

Today, we're starting something new: conjugating verbs in le passé composé, the most common past tense in French. And we're beginning with a verb you already know well: avoir, which means to have.

Now, if you'd like a refresher on avoir first, I covered the present tense back in episode 16, the future tense in episode 102, and the imperfect in episode 163. Feel free to listen to those after this lesson.

As always, if you're new to the podcast: welcome! Make sure you've got your lesson's cheat sheet ready so you can follow along as you listen. And after this lesson, you can practise what you've learned inside the French Made Easy Exercise Library. You'll find all the links in the episode notes, and it is free.

WHAT IS THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ?

The passé composé is the tense we use to talk about something that happened and that is finished in the past. Yesterday, last week, even this morning… It’s past, it’s finished, it’s not continuing in the present.

It's made of two parts:

  • a helper verb (être or avoir) conjugated in the present tense

  • the past participle of your main verb.

If you want to know more about how to form the passé composé and other tenses:

>> Start with this free masterclass <<

Here's an example: J'ai mangé une pomme. 🍎 (I ate an apple.)

It happened in the past. It’s finished.

to eat = manger.

We have:

  • ai = helper verb

  • mangé = the past participle of the verb manger.

So we have two words for one tense.

🛑 Most French verbs use avoir as their helper verb, but some verbs use être.

And that's what makes today's lesson a little special, because when you put avoir itself into the passé composé, avoir becomes its own helper.

🛑 The past participle of avoir is eu.

AVOIR IN THE PASSÉ COMPOSÉ:

Let's go through it. Please repeat after me:

  • j'ai eu (I had) (ai = avoir conjugated in the present tense = helper verb + avoir past participle= eu)

  • tu as eu (you had — informal) (

  • il / elle a eu (he / she had)

  • on a eu (we had — informal)

  • nous avons eu (we had)

  • vous avez eu (you had — formal or plural)

  • ils / elles ont eu (they had)

EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Now let's see some example sentences. Repeat after me:

  • J'ai eu un problème avec ma voiture ce matin. (I had a problem with my car this morning.)

  • Est-ce que tu as eu le temps de manger ? (Did you have time to eat?)

  • Hier, elle a eu un cadeau pour son anniversaire. (Yesterday, she got a present for her birthday.)

  • On a eu une longue journée. (We had a long day.)

  • Nous avons eu un examen difficile. (We had a difficult exam.)

  • Vous avez eu beaucoup de travail cette semaine. (Did you have a lot of work this week.)

  • Ils n'ont pas eu peur pendant le film. (They weren't afraid during the film.)

QUICK RECAP

j'ai eu, tu as eu, il/elle a eu, on a eu, nous avons eu, vous avez eu, ils/elles ont eu

Et voilà ! That is how you conjugate avoir in the passé composé.

Make sure you download the cheat sheet to review everything, and head over to the Exercise Library to practice avoir in the passé composé.

Thanks so much for listening, and I'll chat with you next week.

À bientôt! Bye.

Mathilde KienComment