Un 9.3
The Passé Composé with ‘être’
In the passé composé, the verb ‘être’ is needed as the auxiliary, in place of the auxiliary ‘avoir’.
Dr Mrs Vandertramp Verbs
A small group of verbs require the verb ‘être’ as their auxiliary in the passé composé. These verbs typically involve the concept of movement or the lack thereof, while sometimes a more metaphoric sense of movement is involved. Traditionally, these verbs have been taught through the acronym ‘Dr Mrs Vandertramp’. This acronym, however, does not incorporate all of the verbs requiring ‘être’. Similar to the passé composé with the auxiliary ‘avoir’, verbs that take ‘être’ as an auxiliary use the present tense form of ‘être’ that corresponds to the subject.
e.g.
|
Il est allé au travail. |
He went to work. |
Several of the verbs that take ‘être’ as an auxiliary in the passé composé are irregular.
|
infinitif |
participe passé |
|
|
devenir |
devenu |
to become |
|
revenir |
revenu |
to return/come back |
|
mourir |
mort |
to die |
|
retourner |
retourné |
to return/turn again |
|
sortir |
sorti |
to go out/take out |
|
venir |
venu |
to come |
|
aller |
allé |
to go |
|
naître |
né |
to be born |
|
descendre |
descendu |
to descend/go down |
|
entrer |
entré |
to enter |
|
rester |
resté |
to stay/remain |
|
tomber |
tombé |
to fall |
|
rentrer |
rentré |
to return/enter again |
|
arriver |
arrivé |
to arrive |
|
monter |
monté |
to climb/ascend |
|
partir |
parti |
to leave (for)/depart |
|
décéder |
décédé |
to die |
|
passer |
passé |
to pass |
Several of these verbs can also have the prefix ‘re-’, often to indicate the concept of ‘again’ (renaitre, repartir, etc.). These verbs also follow the auxiliary choice of their root verb.
Subject-Past Participle Agreement – Les accords sujet-participe passé
In the passé composé, the grammatical gender and grammatical number of the subject can influence the form of the past participle. Subjects that are feminine, plural, or both, require additional letters at the end of the past participle.
e.g.
|
Le panneau est tombé. |
The sign fell. |
|
La cliente n’est jamais revenue. |
The client never came back. |
|
Les enfants, vous êtes allés à l’école ? |
Kids, did you go to school? |
|
Les sandales sales sont restées dans le couloir. |
The dirty sandals remained in the hallway. |
Although for -er verbs, this does not change the pronunciation of the past participle, there are changes in pronunciation for some verbs. For those whose masculine singular past participle ends in a consonant, changes in pronunciation can occur.
e.g.
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
|
Masculine |
Il est mort. /mɔʁ/ |
Ils sont morts. /mɔʁ/ |
|
Feminine |
Elle est morte. /mɔʁt/ |
Elles sont mortes. /mɔʁt/ |
For the subject pronouns ‘je’, ‘tu’, ‘nous’ and ‘vous’, there is more than one possible form for the passé composé, as the grammatical gender and grammatical number of the subject can be different in different contexts.
e.g.
|
Monsieur, vous êtes allé à l’université ? |
Sir, did you go to the university? |
|
Madame, vous êtes allée à l’université ? |
Ma’am, did you go to the university? |
|
Messieurs, vous êtes allés à l’université ? |
Sirs, did you go to the university? |
|
Mesdames, vous êtes allées à l’université ? |
Ma’ams, did you go to the university? |
Auxiliary ‘avoir’ or ‘être’ – L’auxiliaire ‘avoir’ ou ‘être’
Of these verbs that take ‘être’ as an auxiliary in the passé composé, five of them (as well as their forms with the prefix ‘re-’) can also have ‘avoir’ as an auxiliary, depending on the meaning of the sentence. They take the auxiliary ‘être’ when they are referring to movement and are intransitive (i.e. without an object), but, in a slightly different context, they can be transitive (i.e. with an object). When they have an object, the auxiliary ‘avoir’ is used. With the auxiliary ‘avoir’ there is no subject-past participle agreement.
e.g.
|
Je suis descendu(e) au sous-sol. |
J’ai descendu les escaliers. |
|
Je suis monté(e) jusqu’au sommet de la montagne. |
J’ai monté la montagne. |
|
Je suis passé(e) à côté du magasin. |
J’ai passé dix minutes dans le magasin. |
|
Je suis retourné(e) au marché. |
J’ai retourné le sac à main au marché. |
|
Je suis sorti(e) hier soir. |
J’ai sorti la poubelle hier soir. |
Reflexive Verbs in the Passé Composé – Les verbes réfléchis au passé composé
When reflexive verbs are placed into the passé composé, the auxilliary ‘être’ is needed. As such, subject-past participle agreement can also occur. This only applies, however, if the reflexive pronoun is acting as a direct object. This may not always be obvious, as the direct and indirect reflexive and reciprocal pronouns have the same forms. Therefore, looking at the rest of the sentence will help to determine the reflexive pronoun’s role.
e.g.
|
Elle s’est cachée. |
She hid. |
|
Elle s’est lavé les mains |
She washed her hands. |
|
Elles se sont vues. |
They saw each other. (voir qqn.) |
|
Elles se sont téléphoné. |
They called each other. (téléphoner à qqn.) |
