Passé Composé (Present Perfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

ByMichael Burns

Introduction to the verb covoiturer

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The English translation of the French verb covoiturer is “to carpool.” It is pronounced “koh-vwah-tyoor-ray.”

The origin of the word covoiturer comes from the combination of “co-” meaning “together” and “voiture” meaning “car.” It was first used in the French language in the 1970s as a way to describe the act of sharing a ride with others in a car to reduce transportation costs and environmental impact.

In everyday French, covoiturer is most commonly used in the Passé Composé (Present Perfect) tense to talk about a carpooling experience that has already taken place. Here are three simple examples of its usage in this tense, with the respective English translations:

  1. J’ai covoituré avec mes collègues pour aller au travail. (I carpooled with my colleagues to go to work.)

  2. Nous avons décidé de covoiturer pour aller à la fête ensemble. (We decided to carpool to go to the party together.)

  3. Ils ont covoituré pendant leur voyage en Europe pour économiser de l’argent. (They carpooled during their trip to Europe to save money.)

Table of the Passé Composé (Present Perfect) Tense Conjugation of covoiturer

Pronoun Conjugation Short Example English Translation
je ai covoituré J’ai covoituré avec mes amis. I carpooled with my friends.
tu as covoituré Tu as covoituré avec tes collègues. You carpooled with your colleagues.
il a covoituré Il a covoituré pour aller au travail. He carpooled to go to work.
elle a covoituré Elle a covoituré avec ses voisins. She carpooled with her neighbors.
on a covoituré On a covoituré pour un événement. We carpooled for an event.
nous avons covoituré Nous avons covoituré pour économiser de l’essence. We carpooled to save on gas.
vous avez covoituré Vous avez covoituré pour réduire votre empreinte carbone. You carpooled to reduce your carbon footprint.
ils ont covoituré Ils ont covoituré pour se rendre à la plage. They carpooled to go to the beach.
elles ont covoituré Elles ont covoituré pour faire du shopping. They carpooled to go shopping.

Other Conjugations for Covoiturer.

   
    Le Present (Present Tense) Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Imparfait (Imperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Passé Simple (Simple Past) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Passé Composé (Present Perfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer    (this article)

    Futur Simple (Simple Future) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Futur Proche (Near Future) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Plus-que-parfait (Pluperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Passé Antérieur (Past Anterior) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

    Futur Antérieur (Future Anterior) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

    Subjonctif Présent (Subjunctive Present) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

    Subjonctif Passé (Subjunctive Past) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Subjonctif Imparfait (Subjunctive Imperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

    Subjonctif Plus-que-parfait (Subjunctive Pluperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Conditionnel Présent (Conditional Present) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer
   

    Conditionnel Passé (Conditional Past) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

    L’impératif Présent (Imperative Present) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

    L’infinitif Présent (Infinitive Present) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb covoiturer

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Covoiturer – About the French Passé Composé (Present Perfect) Tense

The French Passé Composé is a compound tense used to express actions or events that have been completed in the past. It is one of the most common past tenses in the French language and is typically used in everyday conversation to describe actions that occurred at a specific point in the past. The Passé Composé is constructed using an auxiliary verb (either “être” or “avoir”) and a past participle.

NOTE: To take a deep dive into all the French tenses then see our article on Mastering French Tense Conjugation.

Formation of the Passé Composé

Set the auxiliary verb with either

“être” – used with a select group of verbs (mostly intransitive verbs of motion, reflexive verbs, and some others) or
“avoir” – used with most other verbs. 

Conjugate the auxiliary verb

If using “être,” you must conjugate it in the present tense according to the subject of the sentence. 
Je suis, Tu es, Il est, Nous sommes, Vous êtes, Ils sont 
If using “avoir,” conjugate it according to the subject as well: 
J’ai, Tu as, Elle a, Nous avons, Vous avez, Ils ont.  

Add the past participle

For regular -er verbs, remove the -er ending and add -é (e.g., “parler” becomes “parlé”). 
For regular -ir verbs, remove the -ir ending and add -i (e.g., “finir” becomes “fini”). 
For regular -re verbs, remove the -re ending and add -u (e.g., “vendre” becomes “vendu”). 
For irregular verbs, you’ll need to learn the past participles individually, as they don’t follow a regular pattern.

Common everyday usage patterns

Narrating Past Events

The Passé Composé is used to talk about specific actions or events that took place in the past. For example: “Hier, j’ai mangé une pizza” (Yesterday, I ate a pizza). 

Sequential Actions

When describing a series of actions in the past, the Passé Composé is used. For example: “D’abord, je me suis réveillé, puis je suis allé travailler” (First, I woke up, then I went to work). 

Describing Completed Actions

It’s used to emphasize that an action has been completed, often with a specific time reference. For example: “Elle a terminé son travail à 18 heures” (She finished her work at 6 p.m.). 

Interactions with other tenses

Imperfect Tense

The Passé Composé is often used in conjunction with the imperfect tense when telling a story or describing past events. The Passé Composé is used for specific actions that occurred, while the imperfect is used for background information or ongoing actions. 
For example: “Il pleuvait quand j’ai sorti mon parapluie” (It was raining when I took out my umbrella).

Conditional and Future Tenses

The Passé Composé is used as a reference point in complex sentences to establish the sequence of events in relation to future or conditional actions. 
For example: “Quand il est arrivé, je lui ai donné ton message” (When he arrived, I gave him your message). 

Summary

The French Passé Composé is an essential tense for talking about completed actions in the past in everyday conversation. It’s important to master the choice of auxiliary verb and the past participle conjugation for various verbs to use it effectively.

I hope you enjoyed this article on the verb covoiturer. Still in a learning mood? Check out another TOTALLY random French verb conjugation!

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