The passé composé has two moving parts, the auxiliary and the past participle, which changes where negation and inversion go compared to a simple tense like the présent.
1. Basic negation: ne + auxiliary + pas + participle
ne and pas wrap around the auxiliary only, never the participle. See our negation lesson for the full picture.
| Je n'ai pas mangé. | I didn't eat. |
| Elle n'est pas venue. | She didn't come. |
2. Other negative words work the same way
| Je n'ai jamais mangé ça. | I've never eaten that. |
| Il n'est plus venu depuis. | He hasn't come since. |
| Je n'ai rien vu. | I didn't see anything. |
3. Watch out: ne...personne goes after the participle
The exception: unlike pas, jamais, plus, and rien, the word personne (nobody) moves to after the past participle, not between the auxiliary and the participle. Je n'ai vu personne. (I didn't see anyone, not "je n'ai personne vu.")
4. Questions: inversion with the auxiliary
For inversion, swap the auxiliary and the subject, the past participle stays put at the end. Add -t- for il/elle/on if the auxiliary ends in a vowel, exactly like in our forming questions lesson.
| As-tu mangé ? | Did you eat? |
| Est-elle venue ? | Did she come? |
| A-t-il fini ses devoirs ? | Did he finish his homework? |
5. Quick reference
| negation | ne + auxiliary + pas/jamais/plus/rien + participle |
| personne | auxiliary + participle + personne |
| question (inversion) | auxiliary-subject + participle |