The passé composé is a past tense used to express actions or events that occurred and were completed in the past. While most verbs are formed with the auxiliary verb avoir, some verbs are conjugated in the passé composé with the auxiliary verb être. This construction is particularly used with verbs of movement and change of state, as well as with pronominal verbs.
Verbs using être as an auxiliary
Verbs that are conjugated with the auxiliary être in the passé composé include verbs of movement and change of state, as well as all pronominal verbs. Here is a list of the main verbs that use être:- Aller : je suis allé(e)
- Venir : je suis venu(e)
- Devenir : je suis devenu(e)
- Partir : je suis parti(e)
- Arriver : je suis arrivé(e)
- Monter : je suis monté(e)
- Descendre : je suis descendu(e)
- Entrer : je suis entré(e)
- Sortir : je suis sorti(e)
- Mourir : je suis mort(e)
- Naître : je suis né(e)
- Passer : je suis passé(e)
- Rester : je suis resté(e)
- Rentrer : je suis rentré(e)
- Retourner : je suis retourné(e)
- Tomber : je suis tombé(e)
- Se promener : je me suis promené(e)
- Se doucher : je me suis douché(e)
- Se disputer : je me suis disputé(e)
- Se saluer, se tromper, se coucher, etc.
Agreement of the past participle
The agreement of the past participle is an important particularity when the auxiliary verb être is used. The past participle agrees in gender (feminine or masculine) and in number (singular or plural) with the subject of the sentence.
- Je suis allé (masculine singular)
- Tu es arrivée (feminine singular)
- Il est mort, elle est morte
- Nous sommes partis (masculine plural)
- Elles sont venues (feminine plural)
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