Passé Composé

I don't seem to be able to find any reference to Passé Composé in the package. Has this tense been forgotten (I hope not, because it's continually referred to in all the other French instructional courses we use), or is it called something else? For example: Je suis alleé Thanks Chris

Hi Chris, thanks for your question. Rocket French does cover the Passé Composé. We call it "Perfect". You can practice the conjugations of the 50 most common verbs in the Passé Composé with our MegaVerbs game. If you haven't downloaded it yet, please return to the members area to download it. Also the sequel to the Rocket French Interactive Audio course, the "More Rocket French" Interactive Audio Course covers the Passé Composé extensively. I hope that helps.

Nathaline, Your quote "Also the sequel to the Rocket French Interactive Audio course, the "More Rocket French" Interactive Audio Course covers the Passé Composé extensively.", where can I obtain it as well? I bought the download version of Rocket French Premium Plus but would also like to have this additional one. Is it available as a separate downloadable purchase as well? :roll:

Salut, Rocket French Premium Plus was originally called "More Rocket French", so it sounds as though you have both courses. :P

Salut, Merci beaucoup Marie :) Anthony

How do you know where to place the stress in the verb when using the perfect mood? For instance, would one say "Elle ah MAHN-zhay" or "Elle ah mahn-ZHAY" when using the perfect voice. And does the stress hold true for all verbs or only certain verbs? I've heard "parlé" pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, and yet "parti" is pronounced with the stress on the last syllable, what's the rule?

Salut, this is a good question as there is only one natural stress on words and it is usually on the first syllable. There are some exceptions like words ending with double consonants (baguette, appelle..) but even so, it is pretty straight forward compare to English. If you check an English-French dictionary, you will see that the symbol ‘ written for the emphasized syllable on an English word doesn’t exist in the French section. So “j’ai mangé” will be pronounced with a soft emphasis on the “MAHN”. But if I notice with horror that my child has eaten all the chocolate, I could say: “Tu as mangé tout le chocolat” (mahn.ZHAY) because of all the emotion I would put into this sentence ! I hope that helps. Claire

thank you very much for your reply!

is there anytime that you would stress the final syllable of a passe compose verb? For instance a verb that ends with a 'u' such as voulu and venu? If not these, are there any passe compose verbs with more than one syllable that have a stress on the final syllable? Also is there any rule for pronouncing passe compose verbs? Thanks

Salut, The stress in French is much softer compared to English! There is a natural stress on the first syllable, naturally, and again a slight one on the last. So, "je suis venu", pronounced normally, does sound a bit flat. You will accentuate some part of the sentence if reacting to anger, interrogation or any other stressful situations. So, no, there are no rules to pronounce verbs in the past. :P