A1
The passé composé with être
Which French verbs form the passé composé with être, why the participle agrees with the subject, and how reflexive verbs behave.
Most verbs take avoir. A small group takes être, and it has to be memorised because nothing predicts it from the meaning alone.
Je suis allé au marché.
I am gone to-the market
I went to the market.
Elle est partie.
she is left (f.)
She left.
The list
Mostly verbs of coming, going and changing state: aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, naître, mourir, devenir, retourner, passer.
They are often taught as a house — you go in, go up, stay, come down, leave — which is as good a hook as any for a list that has no rule behind it.
The participle agrees with the subject
This is the real work. With être, the participle behaves like an adjective.
| il est allé | he went |
| elle est allée | she went |
| ils sont allés | they went |
| elles sont allées | they went (all women) |
Nous sommes arrivés hier.
we are arrived (pl.) yesterday
We arrived yesterday.
Three of those four forms are pronounced identically. The agreement is almost entirely a written phenomenon — which is why it survives in spelling long after it stopped being audible.
Elle est allé.
Elle est allée.
With être the participle takes the subject’s gender and number. With avoir it does not: elle a mangé, never elle a mangée.
Reflexive verbs take être too
Every verb used with se forms its past with être.
Je me suis levé à sept heures.
I myself am raised at seven hours
I got up at seven.
Some verbs take both
Monter, descendre, sortir and passer take avoir when they have a direct object, and the meaning shifts with it: je suis sorti is I went out, j’ai sorti la poubelle is I took the bin out.