The perfect tense describes an action in the past that has finished. The pluperfect is used to talk about actions far back in the past such as events that have happened.
Part ofFrenchGrammar
The most common verbs that take être can be memorised using the acronym MR VANS TRAMPED:
Monter – to go up / monté - went up
Rester - to stay / resté - stayed
Venir - to come / venu - came
Aller - to go / allé - went
Naître - to be born / né - was born
Sortir - to go out / sorti - went out
Tomber - to fall / tombé - fell
Retourner - to return / retourné - returned
Arriver - to arrive / arrivé - arrived
Mourir - to die / mort - died
Partir - to leave / parti - left
Entrer - to enter / entré - entered
Descendre - to go down / descendu - went down
Translate into French.
I returned. (male)
Je suis retourné.
The past participle doesn’t need any extra letters as the subject is a singular male.
Did you stay? (tu, female)
Es-tu restée ?/Tu es restée ?
An extra -e is needed on the end of the past participle if the subject is female.
We went out. (males)
Nous sommes sortis.
An -s is needed on the end of the past participle if it is all masculine or a mixed group of people.
They arrived. (females)
Elles sont arrivées.
An extra -es is needed on the end of the past participle if the subject of the sentence is a group of females.
