J’ai parlé avec elle.
I spoke with her.
Tense guide
Passé composé
The everyday past tense for completed actions: what happened, what someone did, or what has happened.
When to use it
Use it for specific past events, a sequence of completed actions, and normal spoken past narration.
How to recognise it
It has two parts: a present-tense helper, usually avoir or sometimes être, followed by a past participle: j’ai parlé, elle est partie.
How to form it
Conjugate avoir or être in the present, then add the past participle. Most -er verbs end in -é, many -ir verbs in -i, and many -re verbs in -u.
A simple rule
With être verbs and reflexive verbs, the participle often agrees with the subject: elle est arrivée, ils se sont levés.
Examples
Nous sommes arrivés.
We arrived.
Common French verbs in Passé composé
Compare a real form, then open the verb’s complete conjugation at this tense.