1. Point de départ
In Leçon 6A, you learned to form the passé composé with avoir. Some verbs, however, form the passé composé with être.
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2. To form the passé composé of these verbs, use a present-tense form of être and the past participle of the verb that expresses the action.
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3. Many of the verbs that take être in the passé composé, involve motion
Many of the verbs that take être in the passé composé, involve motion. You have already learned a few of them: aller, arriver, descendre, partir, passer, rentrer, sortir, and tomber.
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4. The past participles of verbs conjugated with être agree with their subjects in number and gender.
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5. To make a verb negative in the passé composé, place ne/n’ and pas around the auxiliary verb, in this case, être.
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6. Here are a few more verbs that take être instead of avoir in the passé composé.
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7. Note that the verb passer takes être when it means to pass by, but it takes avoir when it means to spend time.
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8. To form a question using inversion in the passé composé, invert the subject pronoun and the conjugated form of être.
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9. Place short adverbs such as déjà, encore, bien, mal, and beaucoup between the auxiliary verb être or pas and the past participle.
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10. Essayez! Choisissez le participe passé approprié.
1. Vous êtes (nés/né) en 1959, Monsieur?
2. Les élèves sont (partis/parti) le 2 juin.
3. Les filles sont (rentrées/rentrés) de vacances.
4. Simone de Beauvoir est-elle (mort/morte) en 1986?
5. Mes frères sont (sortis/sortie).
6. Paul n’est pas (resté/restée) chez sa grand-mère.
7. Tu es (arrivés/arrivée) avant dix heures, Sophie.
8. Jacqueline a (passée/passé) une semaine en Suisse.
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