Grammar: Passé Composé negative

When you want to say that something DIDN’T happen in the past, you will need to make a negative statement in the Passé Composé. This is easy to do.

You wrap the “ne…pas” (or other negative term) around the “avoir” or “être” part of the Passé Composé.

Verbs conjugated with AVOIR (most verbs)

FrenchEnglish
je n’ai pas parléI have not spoken
tu n’as pas parléyou have not spoken
il n’a pas parléhe has not spoken
nous n’avons pas parléwe have not spoken
vous n’avez pas parléyou have not spoken
ils n’ont pas parléthey have not spoken

Verbs conjugated with ÊTRE (see this post)

FrenchEnglish
je ne suis pas alléI have not gone
tu n’es pas alléyou have not gone
il n’est pas alléhe has not gone
nous ne sommes pas alléswe have not gone
vous n’êtes pas allésyou have not gone
ils ne sont pas allésthey have not gone

Note

Remember to add an “e” to the past participle (“allé” in this example) if the subject is feminine. This changes the spelling, but only changes the sound in “mourir” (to die), eg “elle est morte” (she died). It will also affect past participles in reflexive verbs such as “mettre” in the Passé Composé, but stay tuned for more about that topic in a future post.

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