French Grammar: Verbs that take ÊTRE in Compound Tenses
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Identify:
French Grammar: Verbs that take ÊTRE in Compound Tenses
la grammaire française: les verbes avec ÊTRE aux temps composés
Study:
A Compound Tense is a verb form that consists of two parts: (1) the present tense of the auxiliary (or “helper”) verb, followed by (2) the past participle of the main verb (i.e., the verb that conveys the true meaning). The past participle is the form of the verb that is equivalent to -ed in English. (For example: played, finished, waited)
In French, the auxiliary verb will always be either AVOIR or ÊTRE. For this reason, all French verbs are categorized by whether they take AVOIR or ÊTRE in a Compound Tense. Verbs that take AVOIR do so in every Compound Tense. Likewise, verbs that take ÊTRE do so in every Compound Tense.
For the majority of French verbs, Compound Tenses are formed with the auxiliary (“helper”) verb AVOIR.
All French Reflexive Verbs form Compound Tenses with the auxiliary (“helper”) verb ÊTRE. A handful of non-reflexive French verbs also form Compound Tenses with the auxiliary (“helper”) verb ÊTRE. The majority of these verbs express motion or a change of place, state, or condition.
Here is a list of non-reflexive verbs (and their derivatives) that take ÊTRE in Compound Tenses:
ALLER : to go
ARRIVER : to arrive
DESCENDRE : to descend / to go down
(REDESCENDRE: to go back down)
ENTRER : to enter
(RENTRER: to return / to go in again / to go home)
MONTER : to climb / to go up / to come up
(REMONTER: to climb again / to go back up)
MOURIR : to die
NAÎTRE : to be born
(RENAÎTRE: to be reborn / to be born again)
PARTIR : to leave / to go away / to depart
(REPARTIR: to leave again / to go away again)
RESTER : to stay / to remain
RETOURNER : to go back / to return
SORTIR : to leave / to go out / to exit
(RESSORTIR: to leave again / to go out again)
TOMBER : to fall
(RETOMBER: to fall again)
VENIR : to come
(DEVENIR : to become)
(PARVENIR: to achieve / to attain / to reach)
(REVENIR : to come back)
NOTE: The verb PASSER also takes ÊTRE in Compound Tenses when it expresses movement (e.g., someone passed something) rather than the passing (or spending) of time.
There are several different tricks for remembering which verbs form Compound Tenses with ÊTRE. These include (a) the mnemonic device “DR. & MRS. VANDERTRAMP” and (b) the visual depiction of “La Maison d’ÊTRE (The House of ÊTRE)”. Here’s how to use them:
(a) DR. & MRS. VANDERTRAMP :
Devenir
Revenir
&
Monter
Rester
Sortir
Venir
Aller
Naître
Descendre
Entrer
Rentrer
Tomber
Retourner
Arriver
Mourir
Partir
(b) La Maison d’ÊTRE :
This is the way that French-speaking children are taught which verbs form Compound Tenses with ÊTRE. This device involves the visual of a cross-section of a house with someone arriving at the front door (arriver), entering the house (entrer), going up the stairs (monter), coming down the stairs (descendre), etc.
To form the past participle of the French –ER verbs in the preceding list (aller, arriver, entrer, monter, rentrer, rester, retourner, tomber), we have to drop the infinitive –ER ending and replace it with –É :
arriver -> arrivé
to arrive -> arrived
To form the past participle of the French –IR verbs partir and sortir, we have to drop the infinitive –IR ending and replace it with –I :
partir -> parti
to leave -> departed
To form the past participle of the French –RE verbs descendre and redescendre, we have to drop the infinitive –RE ending and replace it with –U :
descendre -> descendu
to descend -> descended
To form the past participle of the verbs venir, devenir, parvenir, and revenir, we have to drop the infinitive –IR ending and replace it with –U :
devenir -> devenu
to become -> became (this one’s irregular in English, too!)
The verbs mourir and naître are totally irregular. Here’s what happens to these two verbs to form the past participle :
mourir -> mort
to die -> died
naître -> né
to be born -> was born
IMPORTANT!!! : The past participle of each verb conjugated with ÊTRE in Compound Tenses MUST agree with the subject in number (singular or plural) AND gender (masculine or feminine).
Because the subject pronouns je, tu, nous, and vous can be either masculine or feminine, and because vous can be either singular or plural, the past participle forms used with these subject pronouns varies.
Here is an example with the verb ARRIVER :
MASCULINE SUBJECTS (note that the subject pronoun “on” is always treated as masculine singular) :
je suis arrivé
tu es arrivé
il est arrivé
on est arrivé
nous sommes arrivés
vous êtes arrivé(s)
ils sont arrivés
FEMININE SUBJECTS :
je suis arrivée
tu es arrivée
elle est arrivée
nous sommes arrivées
vous êtes arrivée(s)
elles sont arrivées
NOTE: When the subject is both masculine and feminine, the past participle takes the masculine plural form :
Les hommes et les femmes sont entrés.
The men and the women entered.
Adapt:
Marie, à quelle heure est-ce que tu es arrivée hier?
Marie, at what time did you (familiar and feminine) arrive yesterday?
Je suis arrivée hier à midi.
I (feminine) arrived yesterday at noon.
Vous seriez allés au cinéma le week-end passé?
Would you all (masculine or mixed group) have gone to the movies last weekend?
Non, nous ne serions pas allés au cinema le week-end passé.
No, we (masculine or mixed group) would not have gone to the movies last weekend.
Est-ce qu’elles étaient allées en France?
Had they (feminine) gone to France?
Oui, mais elles étaient déjà retournées.
Yes, but they (feminine) had already returned.
