sourire Passé composé Tense Conjugation in French

The passé composé of sourire — smile — is the form you need for recent past actions and life experience; this is the everyday spoken past tense, the passé composé. sourire is the verb for greeting people: it comes up whenever you talk about describing a photo or talking about being friendly. This page gives you the complete passé composé table for sourire, how it is formed, when to use it, the mistakes learners make with it, and a quiz to check yourself. The first example shows it in action: “J'ai souri souvent cette semaine.” — “I have smiled often this week.”

Passé composé conjugation of sourire

Every form in the table below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for sourire. sourire is irregular (regular in the passé composé), so watch out for the forms that break the pattern — they are the ones learners need to memorise.

Passé composé — sourire

Person Form
je ai souri
tu as souri
il/elle a souri
nous avons souri
vous avez souri
ils/elles ont souri

The gerund of sourire is en sourisant and the past participle is souri. The participle matters here because the passé composé is often confused with the other past tenses — keep them apart.

How the passé composé of sourire is formed

The passé composé of sourire is formed with the auxiliary avoir in the present plus the past participle souri. The six forms are ai souri, as souri, a souri, avons souri, avez souri and ont souri. The auxiliary is avoir for this verb — do not swap it for the other auxiliary.

Because sourire uses avoir as its auxiliary, the participle souri is the same in the table for every person. In real sentences the participle can agree in gender and number with the subject when the auxiliary is être, or with a preceding direct object — that agreement is a sentence-level rule, and the base form in the table stays souri.

The passé composé is the everyday spoken past tense in French. Learn these six forms as a set: once you can say ai souri without thinking, you can talk about anything you did yesterday.

When to use the passé composé of sourire

Completed actions at a specific time

Use the passé composé for an action that started and finished in the past. For example: “J'ai souri souvent cette semaine.” — “I have smiled often this week.”

A sequence of actions

Use the passé composé to list one finished action after another. For example: “Nous avons souri à Marie cette semaine.” — “We have smiled at Marie this week.”

Recent events and news

Use the passé composé for something that has just happened. For example: “Il a souri toute la journée cette semaine.” — “He has smiled all day this week.”

Life experience

Use the passé composé to talk about things you have done in your life. For example: “J'ai souri très gentiment cette semaine.” — “I have smiled very kindly this week.”

Passé composé vs imperfect: sourire finished, sourire in progress

The passé composé and the imperfect are the two tenses learners confuse most with sourire. The passé composé is for recent past actions and life experience; this is the everyday spoken past tense, the passé composé; the imperfect is for ongoing or habitual actions in the past, and background description. Compare the pairs below — the passé composé form comes from this page, the imperfect form from the full conjugation table.

  • Passé composé: “J'ai souri souvent cette semaine.” — “I have smiled often this week.”

  • Imperfect: “Je sourisais souvent avant.” — “I used to smile often before.”

  • Passé composé: “Il a souri à Marie cette semaine.” — “He has smiled at Marie this week.”

  • Imperfect: “Il sourisait à Marie avant.” — “He used to smile at Marie before.”

  • Passé composé: “Nous avons souri toute la journée cette semaine.” — “We have smiled all day this week.”

  • Imperfect: “Nous sourisions toute la journée avant.” — “We used to smile all day before.”

Example sentences: sourire in the passé composé

Six sentences using only the passé composé of sourire, with English translations. Read them aloud — saying the forms is the fastest way to fix them in memory.

  • “J'ai souri souvent cette semaine.” — “I have smiled often this week.”
  • “Tu as souri à Marie cette semaine.” — “You have smiled at Marie this week.”
  • “Il a souri toute la journée cette semaine.” — “He has smiled all day this week.”
  • “Nous avons souri très gentiment cette semaine.” — “We have smiled very kindly this week.”
  • “Vous avez souri souvent cette semaine.” — “You have smiled often this week.”
  • “Ils ont souri à Marie cette semaine.” — “They have smiled at Marie this week.”

Common mistakes in the passé composé of sourire

1. Using the wrong person

✗ Wrong: “Je avons souri souvent.”

✓ Right: “Je ai souri souvent.”

avons souri is the nous form. With je the passé composé form is ai souri.

2. Using the present for a finished action

✗ Wrong: “Hier, je souris à Marie.”

✓ Right: “Hier, j'ai souri à Marie.”

The present souris describes now. For something finished yesterday, use the passé composé ai souri.

3. Forgetting the auxiliary

✗ Wrong: “Je souri toute la journée hier.”

✓ Right: “J'ai souri toute la journée hier.”

The passé composé needs its auxiliary: ai souri is avoir + souri. The participle alone is not a finished sentence.

4. Using the passé composé where the imperfect belongs

✗ Wrong: “Avant, je ai souri très gentiment tous les jours.” (said of a repeated habit)

✓ Right: “Avant, je sourisais très gentiment tous les jours.”

For something you did regularly in the past, use the imperfect sourisais.

5. Mixing up tu and je

✗ Wrong: “Tu ai souri souvent.”

✓ Right: “Tu as souri souvent.”

With tu the passé composé form is as souri, not ai souri. Copy the form for the right person from the table.

Quiz: test yourself on the passé composé of sourire

Ten questions on sourire. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. What is the je form of sourire in the Present perfect?

    • A) a souri
    • B) as souri
    • C) ai souri
    • D) ont souri

  2. What is the tu form of sourire in the Present perfect?

    • A) a souri
    • B) avez souri
    • C) avons souri
    • D) as souri

  3. What is the il/elle form of sourire in the Present perfect?

    • A) avez souri
    • B) a souri
    • C) ont souri
    • D) avons souri

  4. What is the nous form of sourire in the Present perfect?

    • A) avons souri
    • B) a souri
    • C) ont souri
    • D) avez souri

  5. What is the vous form of sourire in the Present perfect?

    • A) as souri
    • B) avez souri
    • C) avons souri
    • D) ont souri

  6. What is the ils/elles form of sourire in the Present perfect?

    • A) avez souri
    • B) a souri
    • C) as souri
    • D) ont souri

  7. What is the je form of sourire in the Present indicative?

    • A) sourisent
    • B) sourisez
    • C) souris
    • D) sourisons

  8. What is the gerund of sourire?

    • A) dormant
    • B) sourisant
    • C) buvant

  9. What is the past participle of sourire?

    • A) souri
    • B) bu
    • C) dormi

  10. What does sourire mean in English?

  • A) drink
  • B) smile
  • C) open
  • D) sleep

Answer key

  1. C) ai souri — The je form of sourire in the present perfect is ai souri.
  2. D) as souri — The tu form of sourire in the present perfect is as souri.
  3. B) a souri — The il/elle form of sourire in the present perfect is a souri.
  4. A) avons souri — The nous form of sourire in the present perfect is avons souri.
  5. B) avez souri — The vous form of sourire in the present perfect is avez souri.
  6. D) ont souri — The ils/elles form of sourire in the present perfect is ont souri.
  7. C) souris — The je form of sourire in the present indicative is souris.
  8. B) sourisant — The gerund of sourire is en sourisant; it is used after en for actions in progress.
  9. A) souri — The past participle of sourire is souri; perfect tenses use avoir + souri.
  10. B) smile — sourire means “smile” in English.

Frequently asked questions

When do I use the passé composé of sourire?

Use it for recent past actions and life experience; this is the everyday spoken past tense, the passé composé. For sourire that covers greeting people, describing a photo and talking about being friendly.

Is the passé composé of sourire regular?

sourire is irregular. In the passé composé it is regular — copy the forms from the table on this page.

What is the past participle of sourire?

The past participle is souri. The passé composé uses it with avoir for the perfect tenses.

How do I say “I smile” in the passé composé?

Say “J'ai souri souvent cette semaine.” — “I have smiled often this week.” The je form is ai souri.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for sourire, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

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