Past participle agreement with être
In the passé composé, verbs that describe movement or a change of state—like leaving, arriving, or going—use the auxiliary verb être.
When using être, the past participle must agree with the subject in gender and number. You modify the past participle just like an adjective:
- Feminine singular: add -e
- Masculine plural: add -s
- Feminine plural: add -es
When talking about a group of women (using elles or feminine nouns), the past participle ends in -es.
| They left for the excursion very early. | Elles sont parties pour l'excursion très tôt. |
| All the girls arrived for the departure, except you. | Toutes les filles sont arrivées pour le départ, sauf toi. |
| They all went to join the guide, except my grandmother. | Elles sont toutes allées rejoindre le guide, sauf ma grand-mère. |
This agreement rule applies to all être verbs, even those with irregular past participles like venir (venu) or descendre (descendu).
| Our cousins came by coach for the journey. | Nos cousines sont venues en car pour le trajet. |
| At the arrival, they got off the coach. | À l'arrivée, elles sont descendues du car. |
If the subject is a single female (elle), you only add an -e.
| During the journey, she stayed alone. | Pendant le trajet, elle est restée seule. |
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