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

ByMichael Burns

Introduction to the verb empâter

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The English translation of the French verb empâter is “to cover with dough” or “to dough up.” The infinitive form is pronounced as “ahn-pah-teh.”

Empâter comes from the Old French word “empas,” which means “paste” or “food.” It is most often used in cooking contexts, specifically when referring to the process of covering or coating food with dough.

In everyday French, empâter is commonly used in the Passé Composé (Present Perfect) tense to describe an action that has been completed in the past. Some examples of its usage in this tense are:

  1. J’ai empâté les fruits avec de la pâte avant de les mettre au four. (I covered the fruits with dough before putting them in the oven.)
  2. Elle a empâté le poisson avec une pâte à la crème. (She coated the fish with a cream dough.)
  3. Nous avons empâté la tarte aux pommes avec un mélange de farine et de beurre. (We covered the apple pie with a mixture of flour and butter.)

In these examples, empâter is used in its past participle form (empâté) and is followed by the auxiliary verb “avoir” (to have) in the passé composé tense. The verb indicates a completed action and is often used in cooking recipes and instructions.

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

Pronoun Conjugation Short Example English Translation
je ai empâté J’ai empâté la pâte. I kneaded the dough.
tu as empâté Tu as empâté le pain. You kneaded the bread.
il a empâté Il a empâté la boule. He kneaded the ball.
elle a empâté Elle a empâté la tarte. She kneaded the pie.
on a empâté On a empâté la pâte à modeler. We kneaded the clay.
nous avons empâté Nous avons empâté la pizza. We kneaded the pizza.
vous avez empâté Vous avez empâté le croissant. You kneaded the croissant.
ils ont empâté Ils ont empâté le pain d’épices. They kneaded the gingerbread.
elles ont empâté Elles ont empâté la pâte feuilletée. They kneaded the puff pastry.

Other Conjugations for Empâter.

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

    Imparfait (Imperfect) Tense Conjugation of the French Verb empâter
   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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