The Perfect Tense with être
THE GOOD NEWS: There are only a small number of verbs which take être in the Perfect Tense.
THE BAD NEWS: YOU HAVE TO LEARN THESE VERBS BY HEART!
The verbs that take être… For the time being, just remember one thing:
onter etourner enir escendre ester ntrer ller ourir asser rriver aître omber ortir
Forming the Perfect Tense withêtre You need three things: 1. The correct part of the verb être – to be 2. The past participle of the verb 3. The correct agreement on the past participle
With the verb être, you have to add an extra e at the end of the past participle, to make it feminine. Je suis arrivée Je suis née Je suis venue Je suis morte etc.
Dont think Great, I can forget all about this rule! It works also when you talk about other female persons: Ma mère est descendue Elle est partie Ma soeur est tombée etc.
& This applies to all of you! When you have a plural person, you need to put an s at the end of your past participle. If the person is feminine AND plural, then guess what? You add an s AND an e! Ils sont rentrés Mes soeurs sont arrivées
InfinitiveMeaningPast Participle MonterTo go upMonté (e) (s) RetournerTo come backretourné (e) (s) VenirTo comevenu (e) (s) DescendreTo go downdescendu (e) (s) ResterTo stayresté (e) (s) EntrerTo go inentré (e) (s) AllerTo goallé (e) (s) MourirTo diemort (e) (s) PartirTo leaveparti (e) (s) ArriverTo arrivearrivé (e) (s) NaîtreTo be bornné (e) (s) TomberTo falltombé (e) (s) SortirTo go outsorti (e) (s)
Remember: Verbs taking être are usually verbs of motion aller- to go je suis allé (e) - I went tu es allé (e) – you (sing/ fam) went il est allé – he went elle est allée – she went nous sommes allé(e)s – we went vous êtes allé(e)(s) – you (pl/pol) went ils sont allés – they (m) went elles sont allées – they (f) went
A ton tour maintenant! Traduis les phrases suivantes en Français! 1.My mother went upstairs 2.I went downstairs 3.My cat died 4.My sister was born 5.My parents arrived
Raconte ta journée dhier! Je suis né Je suis née Je suis arrivé Je suis arrivée Je suis entré Je suis entrée Je suis monté Je suis montée (I arrived)(I came in) (I left) Je suis monté Je suis montée Je suis descendu Je suis descendue Je suis mort Je suis morte Je suis parti Je suis partie