Le passé at A1 — first steps with the passé composé
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Talk about yesterday from day one: avoir + participle, and three magic participles.
Your first past tense
« J’ai mangé », « j’ai fini », « j’ai vu » — small verb (avoir) + participle. That’s enough to tell your whole day.
Teaser for later: you’ll also hear « c’était super ! » (it was great) — that’s the imparfait, the other past. At A1, just collect « c’était » as a chunk.
💡 « C’était super ! » — collectionnez ce chunk pour plus tard.
🔊 Example sentences
💡 Your A1 goal
At A1 your goal is recognition and first use: understand the pattern when you hear it, and produce the two or three simplest forms without thinking. Accuracy over ambition — short and correct beats long and broken.
Comfortable? Level up to Passe Compose Vs Imparfait at A2.
✍️ Practice
J’___ mangé au restaurant. (small verb)
Show answer
ai
Tu as ___ le film ? (voir) (participle)
Show answer
vu
C’___ génial ! (it was) (chunk)
Show answer
était
🎮 Practise
🧩 Sentence builder rebuild the negation