Perfect – passé composé – parfait
Let's Define It!
What's the *perfect*?
The term perfect can relate to two things in French.
First, as present perfect, it is the equivalent of the French passé composé tense. It is formed by using the auxiliaries avoir or être followed by a past participle. For example,
Elle a pris son petit-déjeuner. / She has eaten her breakfast.
Second, in more general sense, perfect is applied to anty tense that expresses an action or states perceived as completed/finished.
For example, tenses such as the present perfect, past historic, pluperfect are perfect tenses since the actions described by their verbs as done/finished/completed (as opposed to the imperfect tense)
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Let's Pronounce It!
What does it sound like in French?
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Let's Have an Example or Two!
Can a little reinforcement do the trick?
Here are a couple sentences containing verbs in one perfect tense. They are underlined for your convenience.
- Tom est revenu hier de son voyage. / Tom came back from his trip yesterday.
- Les invités arrivèrent dans des voitures luxueuses. / The guests arrived in luxury cars.
- J'avais reçu une formation en mécanique avant mon stage à Toyota. /I had trained in mechanics before my internship at Toyota.
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