© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc Point de départ In Leçon 11, you learned to form the passé composé with avoir. Some verbs, however, form the passé composé with être.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc 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.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc 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.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc The past participles of verbs conjugated with être agree with their subjects in number and gender.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc To make a verb negative in the passé composé, place ne/n’ and pas around the auxiliary verb, in this case, être.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc Here are a few more verbs that take être instead of avoir in the passé composé.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc Note that the verb passer takes être when it means to pass by, but it takes avoir when it means to spend time.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc To form a question using inversion in the passé composé, invert the subject pronoun and the conjugated form of être. Note that this does not apply to other types of question formation.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc Place short adverbs such as déjà, encore, bien, mal, and beaucoup between the auxiliary verb être or pas and the past participle.
© and ® 2007 Vista Higher Learning, Inc 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 fi lles 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.