passé composé

American  

[pah-sey kawn-poh-zey] / pɑ seɪ kɔ̃ poʊˈzeɪ /

noun

French.

1. a grammatical construction of French consisting of the present tense of an auxiliary, either avoir or être, followed by a past participle and corresponding in function to both the English present perfect and the English simple past tenses.

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Etymology

Origin of passé composé

Literally, “compound past”

Example Sentences

But those who know the passé composé from the plus-que-parfait still have plenty of value at the Tour.

From New York Times