3.  There are 16 common verbs that had a “falling out” with the verb “avoir.” They decided that they wanted to close friends with the verb “être” instead and they chose “être” as their helping/auxiliary verb instead of “avoir.” There is also one extra verb that did not have a complete falling out with avoir and has chosen to be friends with both avoir and être depending upon his mood. Those French verbs can be sooo difficult.

4.  To remember this pesky verbs we use the acronym seen above. This acronym contains the first letter of all verbs that choose être to be their best friend over avoir. The majority of these verbs deal with movement such as coming or going.

5.  Devenir-to become Descendre-to go down  Revenir-to come back Entrer-to enter Rentrer- to come back  Mourir- to die(home)  Rester- to stayTomber- to fall  Sortir- to go outRetourner- to go back Arriver- to arrive  Venir- to comeMonter- to go up  Aller- to go Partir- to leave  Naître- to be bornPasser- to pass by

6.  Past participles are formed in the normal manner, except for 5 exceptions:  Venir = venu; Revenir = revenu; Devenir = devenu  Mourir = mort  Naître = né

7.  Passer ONLY takes être if it means to pass by.  If it means to take as in “passer un examen” or to spend time as in “passer du temps” then you need avoir.  Je suis passé par le supermarché. BUT  J’ai passé un examen.

8.  Je suis tombé  Tu es tombé  Il est tombé  Elle est tombé  Nous sommes tombé  Vous êtes tombé  Ils sont tombé  Elles sont tombé EXCEPT…???

9.  With these verbs you have to make agreement just like you would with an adjective.  If the subject is a girl “elle” you add “e” to the past participle.  If the subject is feminine and plural “elles” you add “es” to the past participle.  If the subject is plural you add “s” to the past participle.

10.  Je suis tombé(e)  Tu es tombé(e)  Il est tombé  Elle est tombée  Nous sommes tombé(e)s  Vous êtes tombé(e)(s)(es)  Ils sont tombés  Elles sont tombées

11.  Reflexive verbs that take “se” in the front also require être such as se laver, but we will work with these verbs more in the next chapter.  Example:  Je me suis lavé.

12.  Remember the ne…pas ALWAYS hugs the helping/auxiliary verb regardless if it is avoir or être.  Je ne suis pas allée au parc.  Nous ne sommes pas sortis ensemble.

13.  Remember to use “être”as helping verb with this list of verbs.  Add agreement!