Difference between revisions of "Language/French/Grammar/Agreement-of-the-past-participle-having-the-auxiliary-"être"-in-compound-tenses"
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Revision as of 13:44, 23 November 2021
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Definitions
Subject-verb agreement
The agreement in French (the agreement) is the way to choose the correct ending for verbs in terms of grammatical persons, gender and number, depending on their subject.
Past participle
The past participle is a verb form with several roles. It’s essential in the creation of compound verb tenses/moods and the passive voice, and it can also be used as an adjective. The French past participle usually ends -é, -i, or -u, and is equivalent to -ed or -en in English.
French Auxilaries
There are only 2 auxiliaries in French: "avoir" or "être". As "avoir", "être" is used to form compound tenses for some verbs.
Compound Tenses
Conjugations for the different French verb tenses and moods can be divided into 2 categories:
- simple and compound.
Simple tenses and moods have only 1 part (e.g., "je mange") whereas compound tenses and moods have 2 (e.g., "j'ai mangé").
Agreement with the subject
In the case of the following verbs:
- aller (to go),
- mourir (to die),
- monter (to go up),
- sortir (to go out),
- naître (to be born),
- tomber (to fall), etc.
The past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number at compound tenses:
- Les Dupont étaient allés à Angers.
The Duponts had gone to Angers.
- Marie est sortie.
Marie went out.
- Ils sont tombés.
They fell over.
- Jean et Pauline sont montés au 5ème étage.
Jean and Pauline went up to the 5th floor.
No agreement with the subject
Note: Certain intransitive verbs which have the auxiliary "être" in compound tenses can also be used in a transitive manner. They then have the auxiliary "avoir" at compound tenses and there is no agreement between the subject and the past participle:
- Jean et Pauline ont monté les valises au 5ème étage.
Jean-Paul and Janine took the cases up to the 5th floor.