The passé composé form of the verb être is mostly used for the passive voice.
The passive voice is the form of a verb in which the subject undergoes the action of the verb. The passé composé is used to indicate an event, a change, or what happened. You can say j’ai été when something has changed. Use the imperfect tense for conditions or states of being. You can download a free PDF of this lesson guide in my private French Grammar Library.
| Passive Voice | He was hit by a ball. |
| Active Voice | A ball hit him. |
| La Voix Passive | Il a été frappé par un ballon. |
| La Voix Active | Un ballon l’a frappé. |
| J’ai été surpris(e). | At that specific moment in the past, I went from being unaware to finding out. |
| J’ai été malade. le passé composé | I became sick at that moment, but now it’s finished. (action) |
| J’étais malade. l’imparfait | I was sick. (condition or state of being) |
J’ai été malade can translate to the colloquial got, which indicates a change of state at a particular moment.
J’ai été malade.
I got sick.
The passé composé form of être can be used as the equivalent of je suis allé(e) in colloquial French.
| J’ai été en France. Je suis allé(e) en France. | I was in France. (definite point in time) I went to France. |
| J’étais en France. | I was in France. (no definite point in time) |
Another common way to use the passé composé of être is when you ask someone how something went.
We hear this a lot in restaurants to know if we enjoyed a meal. The most common response to this question is Très bien!
| Ça a été? | How was it? How did it go? |
Connaître and Savoir
The verbs connaître and savoir also have different meanings in the passé composé and imperfect tenses.
| Passé Composé | J’ai su | I found out (something changed) |
| Imparfait | Je savais | I knew (information) |
| Passé Composé | J’ai connu | I met (something changed) |
| Imparfait | Je connaissais | I knew (person, place, thing) |
