Language/French/Grammar/Agreement-of-the-past-participle-when-using-“avoir”-with-a-preceding-direct-object
[Changed]
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 of the past participle with the use of the auxiliary "avoir" and a direct object which precedes: 3 cases[edit | edit source]
There are 3 cases where the past participle agrees with the preceding direct object in compound tenses that use the auxiliary "avoir":
- When the direct object above is an unstressed pronoun. For example: "le", "la", "les", "me", "te" etc. "Je les ai vus" (I saw them).
- When the preceding direct object is at the start of a relative clause: for example: "La lettre que j'ai écrite" (The letter which I wrote).
- in questions, when the direct object has been moved before the past participle, for example: "Quelle lettre a-t-il écrite ?" (What letter did he write?) or " Combien de lettres a-t-il lues?" (How many letters did he read?).
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Subject verb agreement — Verb “être”
- Namesake
- « de » or « du », « de la », « des » after quantifiers
- Use of il, ce, cela and ça as impersonal pronouns
- Sentence modifying adverbs
- Impersonal verbs
- Cardinal Numbers — When to use figures and when to use words
- Easy way of generating the simple past
- Punctuation
- Benefactive me, te, se, nous, vous
- Comparative forms of adjectives
- Verb forms — Conjugations
- Adjectives used as nouns
- Unstressed and Stressed Pronouns
- "C'est" or "Ce sont"