Language/French/Grammar/Agreement-of-the-past-participle-having-the-auxiliary-"être"-in-compound-tenses

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Agreement of the past participle with the subject of intransitive verbs having auxilary “être” in compound tenses

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Definitions[edit | edit source]

Subject-verb agreement[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

There are only 2 auxiliaries in French: "avoir" or "être". As "avoir", "être" is used to form compound tenses for some verbs.

Compound Tenses[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

Note: Certain intransitive verbs which have the auxilary "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.

Other Chapters[edit | edit source]

Table of Contents

Nouns


Determiners


Personal and impersonal pronouns


Adjectives


Adverbs


Numbers, measurements, time and quantifiers


Verb forms


Verb constructions


Verb and participle agreement


Tense


The subjunctive, modal verbs, exclamatives and imperatives


The infinitive


Prepositions


Question formation


Relative clauses


Negation


Conjunctions and other linking constructions

Contributors


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