Hello Jasmine, The past tense you are talking about is called "passé composé" (i.e. compound past tense). It is built with either "être" or "avoir" in the present tense + the past participle of the verb you want to use. Here are a few verbs conjugated with "être" : ALLER => "Je suis allée à Paris", REVENIR => "Nous sommes revenus hier", TOMBER => "Il est tombé dans le fossé", PARTIR => "Elles sont parties." Most verbs are conjugated with "avoir" though. 1st group. Regular verbs ending in "er" such as "chanter" => the stem is "chant" (CHANTER - "ER" = CHANT) => the past participle is "chanté" ( = stem + "é" ) => "chantée" in the feminine. J'ai chanté, elle a mangé, ils ont trouvé... 2nd group. Verbs ending in "ir" and that make "-issais" in the imperfect, such as "finir" => the stem is "fin" (FINIR - "IR" = FIN) => the past participle is "fini" (= stem + "i") => "finie" in the feminine. J'ai fini, il a grandi, nous avons bâti... 3rd group. Lots of irregular verbs. You'll need to learn their past participle. A few examples: connaître => connu(e) => vous avez connu vendre => vendu(e) => vous avez vendu prendre => pris(e) => vous avez pris voir => vu(e) => vous avez vu offrir => offert(e) => vous avez offert faire => fait(e) => vous avez fait dire => dit(e) => vous avez dit etc. When you use "être" + past participle, the participle agrees in gender and in number with the subject. Example: "Il est descendu / Elle est descendue / Ils sont descendus." When you use "avoir" + past participle, the participle agrees in gender and in number only if the object is placed before the verb. Example: J'ai mangé des pommes. BUT: Les pommes que j'ai mangées. Reflective (pronominal) verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary "être". For example: s'asseoir => Je me suis assise. se regarder => Tu t'es regardé dans le miroir. se tromper => Nous nous sommes trompés.