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

ByMichael Burns

Introduction to the verb décourager

Get the Passé Composé (Present Perfect) tense conjugation of décourager. Includes a FREE downloadable reference sheet (no email required). Alternatively if you have a lot of text to check then use our free French Grammar Checker – no registration required!

English translation: The English translation of the French verb décourager is “to discourage.”

Pronunciation: The infinitive form of décourager is pronounced as “day-coo-ra-jay.”

Language origin: Décourager comes from the French prefix “de-” meaning “to remove” and the verb “courage” meaning “courage.” It was first used in the 16th century.

Usage in Passé Composé tense: In everyday French, décourager is most often used in the Passé Composé tense. This tense is used to talk about actions that were completed in the past. Décourager is conjugated with the auxiliary verb “avoir” and the past participle “découragé.”

Examples:

  1. J’ai découragé mes amis de poursuivre leurs rêves. (I discouraged my friends from pursuing their dreams.)
  2. Elle a été découragée par son échec à l’examen. (She was discouraged by her failure in the exam.)
  3. Nous avons découragé les manifestants avec notre présence policière. (We discouraged the protesters with our police presence.)

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

Pronoun Conjugation Short Example English Translation
je ai découragé J’ai découragé mes amis. I discouraged my friends.
tu as découragé Tu as découragé les étudiants. You discouraged the students.
il a découragé Il a découragé son équipe. He discouraged his team.
elle a découragé Elle a découragé ses élèves. She discouraged her students.
on a découragé On a découragé les manifestants. We discouraged the protesters.
nous avons découragé Nous avons découragé nos adversaires. We discouraged our opponents.
vous avez découragé Vous avez découragé vos enfants. You discouraged your children.
ils ont découragé Ils ont découragé les concurrents. They discouraged the competitors.
elles ont découragé Elles ont découragé les candidats. They discouraged the candidates.

Other Conjugations for Décourager.

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

    Imparfait (Imperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb décourager
   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get a FREE Download Study Sheet of this Conjugation 🔥

Simply right click the image below, click “save image” and get your free reference for the décourager present perfect tense conjugation!

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

Similar Posts