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

ByMichael Burns

Introduction to the verb décaler

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The English translation of the French verb décaler is “to shift” or “to move”. The infinitive form, décaler, is pronounced as “day-kah-lay”.

Décaler comes from the Old French word “décalcer”, which means “to remove shoes”. It is derived from the Latin word “calcium”, meaning “heel”, and the prefix “de”, indicating removal. Over time, the meaning of décaler has evolved to refer to any type of movement or displacement.

In everyday French, décaler is most often used in the Passé Composé tense, which corresponds to the Present Perfect tense in English. This tense is used to talk about actions or events that happened in the recent past and have an impact on the present.

Here are three simple examples of décaler used in the Passé Composé tense:

  1. J’ai décalé mon rendez-vous avec le dentiste à demain. (I shifted/moved my dentist appointment to tomorrow.)
  2. Nous avons dû décaler nos vacances à cause de la météo. (We had to postpone our vacation because of the weather.)
  3. Il a décalé son fauteuil roulant pour être plus proche de la télévision. (He shifted/moved his wheelchair to be closer to the television.)

In all of these examples, décaler is used to indicate a movement or shift of something from one time or place to another. It is important to note that décaler is an irregular verb in the Passé Composé tense and its past participle is “décalé”.

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

Pronoun Conjugation Short Example English Translation
je ai décalé J’ai décalé mon rendez-vous. I rescheduled my appointment.
tu as décalé Tu as décalé ton réveil. You moved your alarm.
il a décalé Il a décalé sa réunion. He moved his meeting.
elle a décalé Elle a décalé son vol. She changed her flight.
on a décalé On a décalé le concert. We postponed the concert.
nous avons décalé Nous avons décalé notre départ. We delayed our departure.
vous avez décalé Vous avez décalé votre voyage. You changed your trip.
ils ont décalé Ils ont décalé la date de l’événement. They rescheduled the event.
elles ont décalé Elles ont décalé leur séance de yoga. They moved their yoga class.

Other Conjugations for Décaler.

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

    Imparfait (Imperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb décaler
   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Struggling with French verbs or the language in general? Why not use our free French Grammar Checker – no registration required!
   

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Décaler – 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 décaler. Still in a learning mood? Check out another TOTALLY random French verb conjugation!

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