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- The perfect tense with être
The perfect tense with être
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A small group of verbs, mostly about movement, use être instead of avoir in the perfect tense. Their past participle agrees with the subject.
Verbs that take être
Être + past participle
Agreement
The past participle agrees with the subject, like an adjective:
add -e for feminine, -s for plural, -es for feminine plural.
Marc est allé en ville. Léa est allée en ville. Mes parents sont allés en ville. Mes sœurs sont allées en ville.
In speech, you usually cannot hear the difference, but in writing it matters.
add -e for feminine, -s for plural, -es for feminine plural.
Marc est allé en ville. Léa est allée en ville. Mes parents sont allés en ville. Mes sœurs sont allées en ville.
In speech, you usually cannot hear the difference, but in writing it matters.
Translate: Last summer my sister went to Italy and she stayed in a hotel.
- Last summer: l'été dernier.
- my sister went: ma sœur est allée (être, feminine -e).
- to Italy: en Italie.
- she stayed: elle est restée (feminine -e).
Answer: L'été dernier, ma sœur est allée en Italie et elle est restée dans un hôtel.
Movement verbs such as aller, venir, arriver, partir, sortir, rester and tomber take être in the perfect tense. The past participle agrees: allé, allée, allés, allées.
The interactive lesson includes the diagrams for this topic.
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