Lesson 5.03: Past Tense with Être

The majority of French verbs form the passé composé using avoir. There are, however, a handful of verbs that do not use avoir. These verbs use être to form their passé composé. One such verb is aller.

aller - to go (passé composé)

je	suis allé suis allée	nous	sommes allés sommes allées
tu	es allé es allée	vous	êtes allé êtes allée êtes allés êtes allées
il / on	est allé	ils	sont allés
elle	est allée	elles	sont allées

Do you see what some of the differences are?

Unlike the past participles we have worked with up until now, these past participles must make a change according to the gender and number of the subject.

Aller is not the only verb that uses être to form the passé composé.

Below is a list of verbs that use être to form the passé composé. They spell the acronym...

MRS. DR. VANDERTRAMPP

M	monter	to go up; to climb	monté
R	rentrer	to return home	rentré
S	sortir	to go out	sorti
D	descendre	to go down; to descend	descendu
R	rester	to stay; to remove; to remain	resté
V	venir	to come	venu
A	aller	to go	allé
N	naître	to be born	né
D	devenir	to become	devenu
E	entrer	to enter	entré
R	revenir	to come back	revenu
T	tomber	to fall	tombé
R	retourner	to return (to a place)	retourné
A	arriver	to arrive	arrivé
M	mourir	to die	mort
P	passer	to pass; pass by	passé
P	partir	to leave	parti

When forming the passé composé with être verbs, if the subject is feminine, you must add an e to the past participle; if it is plural, add an s.

Ma grand-mère est morte.

My grand-mother died (has died).

In addition to the previous list of verbs, reflexive verbs also use être in the passé composé.

As always, the past participle of être verbs must agree in number and gender with the subject.

Note: There is no past participle agreement if the verb is followed by a word referring to a part of the body.

Take a look at the following examples:

Je me suis réveillé à 6 h.

Je me suis réveillée à 9h.

Elle s'est lavée

Reflexive verbs can be used non-reflexively. When this is the case, the verb avoir must be used to form the past tense.

Mama a réveillé mon frère à 7h.

The subject is not performing the action to or for herself, so there is no need for a reflexive pronoun (se) or the verb être.

Try to sprinkle your conversation with idiomatic expressions from time to time.

Many have interesting stories behind them. These stories give you a unique peek into the character and/or history of the French people.

For example:

Ne pas être dans son assiette.

To feel under the weather.

Je ne suis pas dans mon assiette.

In the sixteenth century, l'assiette was the place where one habitually sat at the table. Thus "to not be in your plate" indicated that one was not in one's usual seat. Like a cup that is not in its saucer, one is out of place and - the expression suggests - out of sorts.