FYW 167 : French verbs – agreement of the past participle with ETRE (compound tenses, part 3)

Did you know that the past participles may need to take an extra "E" and/or "S" in some cases? That is when they are being used as adjectives, but also in some specific situations in compound tenses. In this episode, I’ll clarify the rules of agreement of the past participle with ETRE.

In the next part dedicated to this series about compound tenses, we'll see the rules of agreements of the past participles with the auxiliary AVOIR.

Previous episodes in the series:

Episode 164: French verbs: past participles (compound tenses, part 1): frenchyourway.com.au/podcast164
Episode 165: French verbs: how to choose between ETRE and AVOIR (compound tenses, part 2): frenchyourway.com.au/podcast165

Vocabulary and Spelling of the French Words mentioned in this episode
Je suis allé (masc.sing.), je suis allée (fem.sing.), il est allé (masc.sing.), elle est allée (fem.sing.), nous sommes allé.e.s (masc/fem plur.), ils sont allés (masc.plur.), elles sont allées (fem.plur)

Naître à née

Mourir à Simone Veil est morte le 30 juin 2017.

Exercise:

Les rennes sont arrivé__ sur le toit et le Père Noël est descendu__ dans la cheminée.
Maria est venu__ en discothèque mais elle a refusé__  de danser.
Les bébés ont pleuré__ un peu mais sont resté__  dans leur lit.
Toutes les filles sont allé__ acheter une robe pour la fête de l’école.
Est-ce que vous êtes sorti__ samedi dernier ?

Answers:

Les rennes sont arrivés sur le toit et le Père Noël est descendu dans la cheminée.
(rennes = masc.plur)
Maria est venue en discothèque mais elle a refusé de danser.
(Maria = fem.sing) (refuser : NOT a verb taking auxiliary ETRE!)
Les bébés ont pleuré un peu mais sont restés dans leur lit.
(pleurer : NOT a verb taking auxiliary ETRE!) (bébés = masc. plur, even if they are girls)
Toutes les filles sont allées acheter une robe pour la fête de l’école.
(les filles = fem.plur.)
Est-ce que vous êtes sorti/ sortie/ sortis/ sorties samedi dernier ?
(polite "vous" form of address to a male or female, or plural form of address to males or females)

LINKS and RESOURCES!

Episode 164: French verbs: past participles (compound tenses, part 1): frenchyourway.com.au/podcast164
Episode 165: French verbs: how to choose between ETRE and AVOIR (compound tenses, part 2): frenchyourway.com.au/podcast165
My article  "Introduction to French grammar: what type of word is this?": http://frenchyourway.com.au/introduction-french-grammar-type-word
Episode 69: Introduction to French Grammar (Part 1): articles, nouns and verbs: frenchyourway.com.au/podcast69
Episode 70: Introduction to French Grammar (Part 2): adjectives, adverbs, pronouns: frenchyourway.com.au/podcast70
Episode 148: "Inclusive writing": what is it and how does it work? : frenchyourway.com.au/podcast148
Episode 105 : A must-see in Paris: le Panthéon: frenchyourway.com.au/podcast105

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