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French 2 Unit 3: The Passé Composé with Être

About seventeen common verbs, mostly verbs of motion or change of state, form the passé composé with être instead of avoir, and so do all reflexive verbs. With être, the past participle agrees with the subject, which is one of the most tested details in French 2.

Covers: Verbs of motion that take être, Agreement of the past participle, Irregular être participles (né, mort, venu), Reflexive verbs in the passé composé, Verbs that take avoir or être, Negation and questions with être

Study guide

A small group of verbs uses être as the auxiliary in the passé composé. Most describe movement from one place to another or a change of state: aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, retourner, passer, naître, mourir, devenir, revenir and rentrer. Many students remember them with the acronym DR MRS VANDERTRAMP or by picturing a house where someone arrives, goes up the stairs, comes down, falls and leaves. The auxiliary is the present tense of être: je suis, tu es, il/elle/on est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils/elles sont. Elle est partie means "She left" or "She has left."

Most of these participles are regular: allé, arrivé, entré, monté, resté, tombé, retourné, passé, rentré, parti, sorti and descendu. A few are irregular: venir → venu (also devenu, revenu), naître → né and mourir → mort. Ma grand-mère est née en 1950. Son chien est mort l'année dernière. Notice that rester (to stay) uses être even though it is about not moving; it is still on the list. Verbs that look similar but are not on the list, such as marcher, courir, voyager and nager, use avoir: J'ai marché, nous avons voyagé.

With être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, like an adjective. Add -e for a feminine subject, -s for a masculine plural subject and -es for a feminine plural subject: il est allé, elle est allée, ils sont allés, elles sont allées. A mixed group takes the masculine plural: Paul et Anne sont arrivés. With je, tu, nous and vous, agreement depends on who is speaking or being addressed: a woman writes je suis sortie, and vous êtes partie can be one woman addressed formally. Agreement is often silent in speech, but on written tests it is graded.

All reflexive verbs also take être in the passé composé. The reflexive pronoun goes before the auxiliary: je me suis levé(e), tu t'es couché(e), il s'est réveillé, nous nous sommes amusé(e)s. In the negative, ne goes before the pronoun and pas after the auxiliary: Elle ne s'est pas maquillée. The participle normally agrees with the subject, but not when a body part or other direct object follows the verb: Elle s'est lavée, but Elle s'est lavé les mains. Reciprocal verbs whose pronoun is an indirect object, such as se parler and se téléphoner, also do not agree: Ils se sont parlé.

Six verbs from the list, sortir, monter, descendre, passer, rentrer and retourner, can also take avoir when they have a direct object, and then their meaning shifts. Elle est sortie (she went out), but Elle a sorti le chien (she took the dog out). Je suis monté (I went up), but J'ai monté les valises (I carried the suitcases up). Nous sommes passés chez toi (we stopped by your place), but Nous avons passé une semaine à Nice (we spent a week in Nice). The test: if the verb is followed by a direct object, use avoir and no subject agreement.

Key ideas

• About seventeen verbs of motion or change of state use être in the passé composé.
• All reflexive verbs use être in the passé composé.
• With être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.
• A mixed-gender group takes masculine plural agreement.
• Venir → venu, naître → né and mourir → mort are the key irregular participles.
• Sortir, monter, descendre, passer, rentrer and retourner take avoir when they have a direct object.
• Reflexive participles do not agree when a direct object such as a body part follows.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Using avoir with a motion verb, as in *J'ai allé instead of Je suis allé(e).
• Forgetting agreement, as in *Elles sont parti instead of Elles sont parties.
• Using être with a motion verb that has a direct object, as in *Elle est sortie la poubelle.
• Putting the reflexive pronoun after the auxiliary, as in *Je suis me levé.
• Adding agreement when a body part follows, as in *Elle s'est lavée les mains.

Before the test, make sure you can

• List the verbs that take être in the passé composé.
• Conjugate être verbs in the passé composé with correct agreement.
• Recall the irregular participles venu, né and mort.
• Form the passé composé of reflexive verbs, including the negative.
• Decide when a reflexive participle should not agree (body part or indirect-object pronoun).
• Choose avoir or être for sortir, monter, descendre, passer, rentrer and retourner based on a direct object.
• Narrate a short trip using être verbs and time sequence words.

Words to know

arriver

to arrive

partir

to leave

entrer

to enter

sortir

to go out

monter

to go up

descendre

to go down

tomber

to fall

rester

to stay

rentrer

to go home

retourner

to return

naître

to be born

mourir

to die

devenir

to become

grandir

to grow up

la gare

train station

l'aéroport

airport

le quai

platform

l'escalier

staircase

le grenier

attic

la cave

cellar

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.