Le Passé Composé With Être

When is Être used in the passé composé? It is used with a set of verbs often called the “Vandertramp” verbs The verbs which use être as an auxiliary verb in the past tense do not have a different meaning than the verbs that use avoir as an auxiliary verb. Most, but not all, of the verbs that take être are ACTION verbs

What are the Vandertramp verbs? Devenir - to become Revenir – to come back Monter – to go up Rester – to stay Sortir – to go out, exit Venir – to come Aller – to go Naître – to be born Descendre – to go down Entrer – to enter Retourner - to return Tomber – to fall Rentrer – to return home Arriver – to come Mourir – to die Partir – to leave

Opposites The verbs can also be memorized as (nearly) paired opposites. Mourir - to die Naître – to be born Monter – to go up Descendre – to go down Rester – to stay Partir – to leave Aller – to go Arriver – to come Entrer – to enter Sortir – to exit, go out Venir – to come Revenir – to come back Retourner – to return Rentrer – to return home Tomber – to fall Devenir – to become

Forming le passé composé with être Le passé composé with être is formed in a similar fashion to le passé composé with avoir It also starts with a two step process which involves using the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb (Step One) and the past participle (Step Two); however, there is also a THIRD step – agreement with the subject of the verb

Step One: Auxiliary Verb - Être Our auxiliary verb Être in the present tense is: Je suis Nous sommes Tu es Vous êtes Il est Ils sont Elle est Elles sont

Step Two: Forming the Past Participle The past participles we will be using are: Devenir – devenu Revenir - revenu Monter - monté Rester - resté Sortir - sorti Venir - venu Aller - allé Naître - né Descendre - descendu Entrer - entré Retourner - retourné Tomber - tombé Rentrer - rentré Arriver - arrivé Mourir - mort Partir - parti These verbs have irregular past participles (devenir does not become deveni, but devenu), etc.

Step Three In le passé composé with avoir the auxiliary verb avoir agrees with the subject of the sentence in number. This is called noun-verb agreement. BUT in le passé composé with être, not only does the auxiliary verb être agree with the subject of the sentence, the PAST PARTICIPLE also agrees. It agrees in gender and in number – just as if it was an adjective. Huh???

Step Three It looks like this: Elle est restée. Il est resté. Je (feminine) suis venue. Je (masculine) suis venu. Elles sont sorties. Ils sont sortis.

Sample Verb Chart Je suis sorti(e) Nous sommes sorti(e)s Tu es sorti(e) Vous êtes sorti(e)(s) Il est sorti Ils sont sortis Elle est sortie Elles sont sorties