There are two types of verbs that are conjugated with être: the Vandertramps which are listed below (think of the song you learned), and the reflexive verbs.
All the rest are conjugated with avoir.
EX. J'ai mangé - I ate, I have eaten, I did eat
When you have a negative construction, the "ne pas" sandwich goes around the auxiliary verb (être or avoir) NOT around the past participle: EX Je n'ai pas vu (I haven't seen) or Je n'ai rien mangé (I haven't eaten anything),
J'ai parlé .................. nous avons parlé
Tu as parlé.................vous avez parlé
Il a parlé.....................ils ont parlé
Je suis allé(e)..................nous sommes allé(e)s
tu es allé(e).....................vous êtes allé(s)
il est allé..........................ils sont allés
elle est allée....................elles sont allées
Note that when you conjugate a passé composé that uses être, the past participle acts like an adjective.
EX. Francoise est allée or Nous nous sommes lavés
aller - allé - gone
arriver - arrivé - arrived
devenir - devenu - became
descendre * - descendu - went down/took down
entrer * - entré - entered
monter *- monté - went up/rode/put up
mourir - mort - died
naître - né - born
partir - parti - left/departed
rentrer- rentré - returned
rester - resté - stayed
retourner - retourné - retourned (to a place)
revenir - revenu - came back
sortir * - sorti - left, took out
tomber - tombé - fell
venir - venu - came
* if these verbs take a direct object, they are conjugated with avoir in the passé composé.
Ex : Je suis sortie à trois heures. (I left at 3:00)
but
J'ai sorti de l'argent de mon sac. (I took money out of my pocketbook)
to speak, parler - parlé
to dance, danser - dansé
to finish, finir - fini
to choose, choisir - choisi
to sell, vendre - vendu
to respond, répondre - répondu
être - été, have been/was
faire - fait, made
-i
rire - ri, laughed
sourire - souri, smiled
suffire - suffi, sufficed
suivre - suivi, followed
-is
mettre - mis, put
prendre - pris, taken
apprendre - appris, learned
comprendre - compris, understood
surprendre - surpris, surprised
-it
dire - dit, said
écrire - écrit, written
décrire - décrit, described
conduire - conduit, driven
cuire - cuit, cooked
détruire - détruit, destroyed
produire - produit, produced
traduire - traduit, translated
-u
connaître - connu, known
apparaître - apparu, appeared
disparaître - disparru, disappeared
courir - couru, run
plaire - plu, pleased
devoir - du, should have
recevoir - reçu, received
avoir - eu, had
boire - bu, drunk
croire - cru, believed
pouvoir - pu, was able
savoir - su, known
voir - vu, seen
falloir - fallu, (il a fallu - it was necessary)
"vouloir - voulu, wanted
lire - lu, read
élire - élu, elected
vivre - vécu, lived
-ert
ouvrir - ouvert, opened
couvrir - couvert, covered
découvrir - découvert, discovered
offrir - offert, offered