Language/French/Grammar/Pronominal-verbs,-the-auxiliary-“être”-and-the-agreement-of-the-past-participle
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Definitions
Pronominal Verbs
Pronominal verbs ("Les verbes pronominaux" in French), of which there are several categories, are verbs that are constructed with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous) of the same person as the subject.
Auxiliaries
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").
Direct Object Pronoun
A direct object pronoun is a word such as "me", "him", "us" and "them", which is used instead of the noun to stand in for the person or thing most directly affected by the action expressed by the verb.
Reflexive verb
A reflexive pronominal verb expresses an action that the subject does on himself:
- Tu te laves.
You wash yourself.
Reciprocal verb
The reciprocal pronominal verb expresses an action both accomplished and received by each of the actors in the action.
- Toutes les étudiants se sont regardés.
All the students looked at each other.
Pronominal verbs, “être” and the agreement of the past participle
Pronominal verbs are always conjugated with "to be" with compound tenses. We need to know when the past participle is marked for agreement.
While the past participle of non-pronominal verbs that take to always agree with the subject (elle est arrivée, nous sommes arrivés, elles sont arrivées), the participle of pronominal verbs only agrees with a direct object pronoun.
For example:
Reflexive and Direct Object Pronoun
- Je (feminine) me suis lavée à l'eau froide
I washed in cold water
- Elle était maladroite et s'était fréquemment blessée
She was clumsy and often injured herself
- Suzanne s'est très mal habillée
Suzanne dressed very badly
- Marianne s'est cachée dans l'armoire
Marianne hid in the cupboard
Reciprocal and Direct Object Pronoun
- Les deux amis se sont rencontrées à Marseille
The two friends met (each other) in Marseille
- Vous vous êtes attendus les uns les autres avant d'entrer dans le théatre
You waited for each other before entering the theater
- Jean-Claude et Alfred se sont rencontrés à Nantes
Jean-Claude and Alfred met in Nantes
- Marie et son frère se sont attendues à l'aéroport
Marie and her brother waited for each other at the airport
The Pronoun is an integral part of the verb, is a direct object and has no detectable reflexive or reciprocal meaning
- A la vue de toute cette foule, elles sont parties en courant
At the sight of all this crowd, they ran away
- Ils se sont toujours repentis de leurs péchés
They have always repented of their sins
- Il s'est tu dès qu'ils a vu le président en personne
He fell silent as soon as they saw the president in person
This includes when the pronominal verb is used as a passive:
- Les Iphones se sont vendus comme des petits pains
Iphones sold like hot cakes
However, the past participle does not agree in any case where the pronoun is an indirect object. For example :
(i)
When the non-pronominal version of the verb has an indirect prepositional object (for example: "nuire à quelqu'un", "cacher quelque chose à quelqu'un", "écrire à quelqu'un") and then the "se" is seen as an indirect object:
- Il s'est nui à lui-même en demandant cela
He harmed himself by asking this
- Cécile s'est caché la vérité en agissant ainsi
Cécile hid the truth by doing this
- Les participants à la conférence se sont ensuite écrit
Conference participants then wrote to each other
(ii)
When the pronoun is indirect and the direct object is a part of the body:
- Je (feminine) me suis lavé les mains après être entré
I washed my hands after entering
- Elle s'est coupé le doigt en épluchant les légumes
She cut her finger while peeling the vegetables
- Pierre s'est cassé la jambe en tombant à cheval
Peter broke his leg when he fell on a horse
Note
When the pronoun is an indirect object (and therefore the participle does not agree with it), the participle can nevertheless agree with a preceding direct object, as in the examples below:
- Les deux montres qu'il s'est achetées sont cassées
The two watches he bought for himself are broken
- Combien de valises s'est-il achetées?
How many watches did he buy?