Language/French/Grammar/Agreement-of-past-participle-if-direct-object-is-placed-before
In compound tenses, the past participle of verbs conjugated with avoir normally agrees with preceding unstressed direct object pronouns:
- J'ai vu Marie: Je l'ai vue
I saw Marie: I saw her
- Les policiers avaient repéré les voleurs: Les policiers les avaient repérés
The police had found the thieves: The police had found them
- Les voisins ont appelé ma soeur et moi (fem): Les voisins nous ont appelées
The neighbours called my sister and me: The neighbours called us
NB: le used to refer to a clause is invariably masculine, and so there is no agreement with the past participle:
- Sa mère est malade; il l'a souvent dit
His mother is ill; he has often said so
Past participles do NOT agree with any other preceding pronouns, nor with indirect objects, nor with en:
- J'ai parlé à Marie: Je lui ai parlé (NOT *parlée)
I spoke to Marie: I spoke to her
- J'ai indiqué le chemin à Jean-Claude et Paul: Je leur ai indiqué (NOT "indiqués) le chemin
I told Jean-Claude and Paul how to get there: I told them how to get there
- Ce matin il y a eu des vaches qui sont passées dans le champ du voisin. J'en ai vu (NOT * vues) hier aussi
This morning there were some cows which got into the neighbour's field. I saiv some yesterday as well