Le Passé Composé notes #2 Avec “être”

Review  You have learned that the passé composé is made up of a helping verb and the past participle of the main verb.  With most verbs you use the present tense of “avoir” as your helping verb  Ex: J’ai fait mon devoir= I did my homework

 Certain verbs form their passé composé with the helping verb “être”  To form the past participle of –er verbs, drop the –er of the infinitive and and “é”. For regular-ir verbs, drop the infinitive ending and add “i”. For regular –re verbs, drop the infinitive ending and add “u”.

Agreement with “être”  Rule: Anytime you use être as a helping verb in the passé composé, the ending of the past participle participle must agree in both gender and number with the subject performing the action.  Look at the conjugation of “sortir”

Sortir=to go out  Je suis sortiNous sommes sortis  Tu es sortiVous êtes sortis  Il est sortiIls sont sortis  Elle est sortieElles sont sorties  Notice the agreement indicated above in bold.

Verbs that take être  Most verbs that use être in the passé composé express motion or movement of the subject from one place to another.  The mneumonic device DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP will help you to remember which verbs take être.

DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP  DESCENDRE=TO GO DOWN (descendu)  RETOURNER=TO RETURN (retourné)  MONTER=TO GO UP (monté)  RENTRER=TO RETURN (rentré)  SORTIR=TO GO OUT (sorti)  VENIR=TO COME (venu)  ALLER=TO GO (allé)  NAÎTRE=TO BE BORN (né)  DEVENIR=TO BECOME (devenu)  ENTRER=TO ENTER (entré)  RESTER=TO STAY (resté)  TOMBER=TO FALL (tombé)  REVENIR=TO GO BACK (revenu)  ARRIVER=TO ARRIVE (arrivé)  MOURIR=TO DIE (mort)  PARTIR=TO LEAVE (parti)