How do you form the perfect tense in French?

In French we need two verb parts to form the perfect tense: the auxiliary (avoir or être) and the past participle of the verb you want to use. Let’s start simple with avoir and être. This part is always conjugated in the present: j’ai, tu as, il/elle/on a, nous avons, vous avez, ils/elles ont. It’s the same with être : je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont. The verbs which involve movement or a change of state take être e.g. aller, and the rest take avoir. Most verbs take avoir but if you’re unsure check! Once you have decided on your auxiliary you need to form the past participle from the infinitive. 1. Chop off the ending of the verb ER, RE, IR. 2. Add the correct ending. For ER verbs add é: manger --> mangé. IR verbs add i: choisir --> choisi. RE verbs add u: vendre --> vendu. There are some verbs which are irregular and don’t follow the rules (sigh) and you just have to learn them e.g. boire --> bu ; savoir --> su ; faire --> fait. Then you put it all together. Now for an example: I ate an apple 1. Who is the subject (doing the verb)? = Je 2. Avoir or être with manger? = avoir remember to conjugate avoir or être depending on your subject! 3. Past participle of manger = mangé 4. Subject + avoir/être form + past participle = J’ai mangé (une pomme).