L’année dernière, Paul a remporté la partie.

Because année begins with a vowel sound, la contracts to l’ in French.

• la année ❌
• l’année ✅

This is called elision. It happens very often with le and la before a vowel or a silent h.

Examples:

• l’école
• l’homme
• l’amie

So l’année dernière means the last year or, more naturally in English, last year.

L’année dernière means last year.

French adjectives often come after the noun, and dernier / dernière is commonly placed after time words in expressions like:

• la semaine dernière = last week
• le mois dernier = last month
• l’année dernière = last year

So even though English says last year, French says something closer to the year last.

Also, dernière is feminine because année is feminine:

• un an dernier would not be used here
• l’année dernière is the normal expression

A remporté is the passé composé, a very common French past tense.

It is formed with:

• a present-tense auxiliary verb
• plus a past participle

Here:

• a = third-person singular of avoir
• remporté = past participle of remporter

So:

• Paul a remporté = Paul won

The passé composé is often used for:

• completed actions in the past
• specific events
• things that happened once

Since last year refers to a completed event, passé composé fits very well.

Most French verbs form the passé composé with avoir, and remporter is one of them.

So:

• j’ai remporté
• tu as remporté
• il/elle a remporté
• nous avons remporté
• vous avez remporté
• ils/elles ont remporté

Only a smaller group of verbs use être, mainly:

• many movement/change-of-state verbs like aller, venir, entrer, sortir, naître, mourir
• all reflexive verbs

Because remporter is a normal transitive verb, it uses avoir.

Remporter often means to win, especially in the sense of to carry off a victory, to win a contest/game/prize, or to come out victorious.

In this sentence:

• Paul a remporté la partie = Paul won the game/match

Compared with gagner:

• gagner is the more general verb for to win or to earn
• remporter can sound a little more formal or emphatic in some contexts

Examples:

• gagner un match = to win a match
• remporter un match = to win a match
• gagner de l’argent = to earn money
• remporter de l’argent ❌

So remporter works well with things like:

• une victoire
• un match
• la partie
• un prix

But not with earning money or wages.

Here, la partie means the game, the round, or the match, depending on context.

French often uses partie for:

• a game of chess
• a round of cards
• a specific session of play
• a contest between players

Examples:

• une partie d’échecs = a game of chess
• une partie de cartes = a card game
• la partie est finie = the game is over

Le jeu usually refers more generally to:

• the game as an activity
• a toy/game in general
• gameplay
• a set of rules

So:

• Paul a remporté la partie = Paul won the game/match/round
• Paul aime ce jeu = Paul likes this game

The comma separates a time expression placed at the beginning of the sentence.

French often allows this structure:

• L’année dernière, Paul a remporté la partie.

It helps mark when the action happened before giving the main statement.

You could also say:

• Paul a remporté la partie l’année dernière.

That is also correct. The difference is mostly one of emphasis and style:

• L’année dernière, ... emphasizes the time first
• Paul a remporté ... l’année dernière states the action first, then adds when it happened

Yes, but the sentence would need some other subject.

French normally needs an explicit subject:

• L’année dernière, Paul a remporté la partie.
• L’année dernière, il a remporté la partie.

Unlike English, French does not usually drop the subject in ordinary statements.

So you cannot normally say:

• L’année dernière, a remporté la partie. ❌

You need a subject such as:

• Paul
• il
• Marie
• elle
• nous, etc.

Remporté is the past participle of remporter.

Its basic form is remporté. In this sentence, it does not change, because the verb is used with avoir, and there is no direct object placed before the verb.

So:

• Paul a remporté la partie. ✅

Here, la partie comes after the verb, so remporté stays unchanged.

A more advanced point: with avoir, the past participle can agree if a direct object comes before it.

Example:

• La partie que Paul a remportée

  Here, la partie comes before the participle through que, so remportée takes an extra e.

But in your original sentence, just remporté is correct.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

la-nay der-nyair, pol a rong-por-tay la par-tee

A few important points:

• année sounds like a-nay
• dernière has a ny sound: der-nyair
• Paul sounds like pol
• a is just ah
• remporté has a nasal sound in rem-: something like rong-
• partie sounds like par-tee

A more IPA-like version is:

/la.ne dɛʁ.njɛʁ, pɔl a ʁɑ̃.pɔʁ.te la paʁ.ti/

Also, French stress is much less strong than English stress; the sentence flows more evenly.

Yes, they both usually mean last year.

• L’année dernière = last year
• L’an dernier = last year

Both are common, but there is a slight difference in feel:

• l’an dernier is a bit shorter and very common in everyday French
• l’année dernière may sound slightly fuller or more explicit

In most contexts, they are interchangeable.

So you could also say:

• L’an dernier, Paul a remporté la partie.

In form, a remporté looks like English has won, but in meaning it is often simply won.

French passé composé does not match English tenses perfectly.

Depending on context, Paul a remporté la partie can correspond to:

• Paul won the game
• sometimes Paul has won the game

But with L’année dernière, the English translation should normally be:

• Last year, Paul won the game.

You would not usually say:

• Last year, Paul has won the game. ❌

So the time expression makes the English choice clear: simple past.

Yes. Paul a gagné la partie is perfectly natural and means essentially the same thing: Paul won the game.

The difference is mostly one of word choice:

• gagner = the most common general verb for to win
• remporter = also means to win, sometimes a bit more formal, literary, or emphatic depending on context

So both are correct:

• Paul a gagné la partie.
• Paul a remporté la partie.

In many real situations, native speakers might choose either one.