Language/French/Grammar/“être”-and-“avoir”-with-verbs-used-intransitively-and-transitively
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“être” and “avoir” with verbs used intransitively and transitively
Intransitive verbs which take the auxiliary être in compound tenses take avoir when they are used transitively:
French | Translation |
---|---|
Pierre est descendu | Pierre went down |
BUT | |
Pierre a descendu les valises | Pierre has taken the suitcases down |
Marie est montée prendre son maillot | Marie has gone up to fetch her de bain swimming costume |
BUT | |
Marie avait monté un sac de charbon | Marie had taken a sack of coal up |
Mickey est sorti | Mickey has gone out |
BUT | |
Mickey a sorti une pièce d'identité | Mickey got out some identification |
Bernard sera rentré | Bernard will have gone home |
BUT | |
Bernard avait rentré la voiture au garage | Bernard had put the car in the garage |
Eliane était retournée à la banque | Eliane had gone back to the bank |
BUT | |
Eliane a retourné tout l'appartement | Eliane has turned the flat upside down |
The verbs descendre and monter also take the auxiliary avoir in compound tenses when they are used with adverbials of place like l'escalier, la rue, la côte:
French | Translation |
---|---|
Il a descendu l'escalier/la rue | He went down the stairs/the street |
Elle a monté la côte | She went up the hill |
Compare with: | |
Il est descendu vers la rue | He went down towards the street |
Elle est monté à l'échelle | She climbed up the ladder |
Other Chapters[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Direct Object Complement
- Formation of the passive in French
- Use of faire + partitive faire du, de la
- Adjective—adjective compounds
- Double object constructions with no preposition
- The irregular verb être
- Mass nouns used countably
- Use of the definite article with seasons
- Past Tense
- Constructions which do not allow indirect object pronouns
- Ordinal numbers
- Coordination of subject pronouns
- Use of the neutral pronoun le
- How to Use Be
- Direct object quantifiers and « en »