Passé composé with être & Agreement

📌 Note de grammaire

Most French verbs use avoir in the passé composé, but a specific group of verbs related to movement, direction, or change of state must use être as their auxiliary verb.

📌 Note de grammaire

Use the mnemonic 'Dr. & Mrs. P. Vandertramp' to remember the main verbs that take être: Devenir, Revenir, Monter, Sortir, Venir, Aller, Naître, Descendre, Entrer, Rester, Tomber, Retourner, Arriver, Mourir, Partir.

📌 Note de grammaire

When a verb uses être in the passé composé, the past participle must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence, just like an adjective.

📌 Note de grammaire

If the subject is feminine and singular, you must add an 'e' to the end of the past participle (e.g., allé -> allée, parti -> partie).

📌 Note de grammaire

If the subject is masculine plural (or a mixed-gender group), add an 's' to the past participle (e.g., allé -> allés, mort -> morts).

📌 Note de grammaire

If the subject is exclusively feminine and plural, you must add 'es' to the past participle (e.g., allé -> allées, né -> nées).

📌 Note de grammaire

All reflexive verbs (verbes pronominaux with se/s') always use être as their auxiliary verb in the passé composé, requiring subject agreement under standard conditions.

📌 Note de grammaire

When the subject of a reflexive verb is feminine, the past participle agrees with the subject (adding 'e', 'es') as long as the reflexive pronoun is a direct object.

📌 Note de grammaire

Certain verbs like monter, descendre, sortìr, passer, and retourner take être when intransitive (no direct object), but take avoir when followed by a direct object.

📌 Note de grammaire

To make an être sentence negative, place 'ne' before the auxiliary verb (être) and 'pas' immediately after the auxiliary verb, before the past participle.

📌 Note de grammaire

To ask a question using subject-verb inversion with être, invert the subject pronoun and the conjugated form of être. The past participle remains at the end.

📌 Note de grammaire

Some verbs taking être have irregular past participles that you must memorize: naître (né), mourir (mort), venir (venu), devenir (devenu), revenir (revenu).