Talking About The Past
Past 1: j'ai visité
A Piece of Cake! The -er Verbs
Talking about what you did in the past is a big part of daily conversation. To do this, we use a tense called the Passé composé.
The great news is that for verbs ending in -er (most verbs), this is very easy and logical to learn. It is the most common way to speak about the past, and you will use it every single day.
Because the rule is so simple, it is the perfect starting point for feeling confident when you share your travel stories or your latest experiences in France.
To Start With
How to Build the Passé Composé
Building a sentence in the past tense is like putting together two pieces of a puzzle:
- The “Engine” | Avoir in the present tense = J’AI
- The Action | Remove the -er and add -é = VISITÉ
Et voilà ! A Paris, j’ai visité le Trocadéro. In Paris, I visited the Trocadéro.
Conjugation Tip | This word remains exactly the same for every person: tu as visité, il a visité, nous avons visité…
Pronunciation Tip | The infinitive ‘visiter’ and the past form ‘visité’ sound exactly the same. They both end with a clear ‘ay’ sound.
2 examples
Verbs with a consonant
Visiter (to visit)
J’ai visité /jé vi zi té/ 4 syllables
Tu as visité /tu a vi zi té/
Il a visité /i la vi zi té/
Elle a visité /è la vi zi té/
On a visité /on na vi zi té/
Nous avons visité /nou za von vi zi té/
Vous avez visité /vou za vé vi zi té/
Ils ont visité /il zon vi zi té/
Elles ont visité /èl zon vi zi té/
Verbs with a vowel
appeler (to call)
J’ai aimé /jé é mé/
Tu as aimé /tu a é mé/
Il a aimé /i la é mé/
Elle a aimé /è la é mé/
On a aimé /on na é mé/
Nous avons aimé /nou za von é mé/
Vous avez aimé /vou za vé é mé/
Ils ont aimé /il zon é mé/
Elles ont aimé /èl zon é mé/
Why these red letters?
In French, words often flow together to create a smooth, melodic sound. Imagine an invisible thread weaving the words together to create a single musical phrase.
This “linking thread” between words happens when a word ends with a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel (A, E, I, O, U) or a silent H.
1. The “Z” Sound Connection
When words ending in a silent s are followed by a verb starting with a vowel, the s “wakes up” and is pronounced like a vibrating Z. This is the most common connection.
Nous avons → nou-Za-von
Vous avez → vou-Za-vé
Ils ont / Elles ont → il-Zon / èl-Zon
2. The “N” Sound Connection
The word On (which means “we” in casual French) ends in an n.
When followed by a vowel, we carry that n sound over to the next word.
On a → on-Na
It sounds exactly like the English word “honor” without the ‘r’.
3. The “L” Sound Connection
For Il (he) and Elle (she), the l is already pronounced. However, in French, we don’t pause after the L. We slide it directly into the next vowel.
Il a → i-La
Elle a → è-La
Imagine it as one single word instead of two separate ones.
On Essaie ? Shall we give it a go?
How did it go? To hear these sentences, and perhaps repeat the verbs, click on the player and scroll up/down the page as you wish.
