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Le voyage a été formidable.

Le voyage a été formidable.
The trip was wonderful.
From Lesson 72:Irregular past participles (eu, été, fait, pris, vu)·French

Breakdown of Le voyage a été formidable.

être
to be
avoir
to have
le voyage
the trip
formidable
wonderful

Questions & Answers about Le voyage a été formidable.

Why do we use a été for "was" instead of just one word?
To talk about a completed past event, French uses the passé composé (the past tense you are learning now). This tense always needs two parts. For the verb être (to be), the helper verb is avoir (here, a) and the past participle is the irregular word été. So a été literally translates to "has been".
Is the helper verb for être always avoir?
Yes! Even though être means "to be", it uses avoir (to have) as its helper verb to form the past tense. You will always see combinations like j'ai été (I was) or il a été (he/it was).
Does formidable mean the trip was difficult or intimidating?
Not at all! Formidable is a classic "false friend." While it looks like an English word that means something scary or daunting, in French it actually means "wonderful," "great," or "terrific."
If the subject was a feminine noun instead of le voyage, would formidable change?
No, it would stay exactly the same. Normally, you add an "e" to a French adjective to make it feminine. However, because formidable already ends in an "e" in its base masculine form, you do not add another one.

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