Agreement in etre-conjugated past tenses

Level 2

When a verb is conjugated with être in a compound tense (like the passé composé), the past participle acts like an adjective and changes its ending to match the subject.

How It Works

In French, verbs that use être as an auxiliary require the past participle to agree with the subject.

1. Verbs of Motion: This applies to the 'House of Être' verbs like aller, venir, entrer, sortir, naître, mourir. For example: Elle est venue.
Note: Some of these verbs (like sortir, monter, descendre) use avoir if they take a direct object. In that case, the participle does not agree with the subject (e.g., Elle a sorti la poubelle).

2. Pronominal Verbs: Reflexive and reciprocal verbs always use être. The participle agrees with the reflexive pronoun if it is a direct object (e.g., Elles se sont lavées). However, there is no agreement if the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object (e.g., Elles se sont parlé — they talked to each other) or if a direct object noun follows the verb (e.g., Elle s'est lavé les mains).

3. Passive Voice: All verbs in the passive voice use être and require agreement: La lettre a été écrite.

4. The Pronoun 'On': When on is used informally to mean 'we' (nous), the past participle usually takes plural agreement to match the people it represents: On est arrivés.

5. Pronunciation: While the agreement is often silent (allé vs allée), it is audible in verbs ending in a consonant that becomes voiced in the feminine form, such as mort (silent 't') vs morte (pronounced 't').

Examples (5)

  1. Elle est allée au marché.

    She went to the market.

    Word by Word: She is gone to the market.

    Since the subject 'Elle' is feminine singular, an '-e' is added to the past participle 'allé'.

  2. Mes frères sont partis hier soir.

    My brothers left last night.

    Word by Word: My brothers are left yesterday evening.

    The subject 'Mes frères' is masculine plural, so an '-s' is added to 'parti'.

  3. Les filles se sont couchées tôt.

    The girls went to bed early.

    Word by Word: The girls themselves are bedded early.

    In this reflexive construction, 'couchées' agrees with the feminine plural subject 'Les filles'.

  4. La porte a été ouverte par le vent.

    The door was opened by the wind.

    Word by Word: The door has been opened by the wind.

    In the passive voice, 'ouverte' agrees with the feminine singular subject 'La porte'.

  5. Nous sommes arrivés à l'heure.

    We arrived on time.

    Word by Word: We are arrived at the hour.

    Assuming 'Nous' refers to a group including at least one male, we add '-s' for masculine plural.

Common Mistakes

  • Applying subject agreement when using 'avoir'.

    Elle a mangée une pomme.
    Elle a mangé une pomme.

    With the auxiliary 'avoir', the past participle never agrees with the subject. It only agrees with a preceding direct object.

  • Forgetting that 'vous' can be singular.

    Madame, vous êtes arrivés.
    Madame, vous êtes arrivée.

    When 'vous' is used as a formal singular 'you', the participle must be singular. If the person is female, it must be feminine singular.

  • Agreeing with an indirect object in pronominal verbs.

    Elles se sont téléphonées.
    Elles se sont téléphoné.

    The verb 'téléphoner' takes an indirect object (téléphoner à quelqu'un). In French, if the reflexive pronoun is indirect, the participle does not agree.

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Agreement in etre-conjugated past tensesLevel 2

Learn This First

To understand past participle agreement with 'être', you must first be familiar with the 'passé composé' using 'être' as an auxiliary. Additionally, since the past participle acts like an adjective in this context, you need to understand the basic mechanics of feminine and plural adjective agreement.

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