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Je suis descendu à ton étage.

Je suis descendu à ton étage.
I went down to your floor.
From Lesson 73:The passé composé with être·French

Questions & Answers about Je suis descendu à ton étage.

Why does this sentence use suis (am) instead of ai (have) for the past tense?
In the passé composé (past tense), most verbs use avoir (to have) as a helper verb. However, a special group of verbs showing motion or a change of state instead uses être (to be). Descendre (to go down) is one of these motion verbs, so we must say Je suis descendu.
Does descendu change if a woman is speaking?
Yes! When the past tense uses être as its helper verb, the past participle (the action verb) has to match the subject's gender and amount. If a woman is saying this sentence, she would add an extra "e" to the end: Je suis descendue.
Why is it ton étage? Doesn't the word for "your" depend on who I'm talking to?
In French, possessive words like ton, ta, and tes match the gender and number of the object being owned, not the person you are speaking to. Since étage (floor/level) is a masculine singular noun, you must use the masculine singular word for "your", which is ton.
Why does the translation say "went down" when the verb looks like "descended"?
While descendre literally means "to descend," English speakers rarely use that word in casual conversation. In everyday French, descendre is the standard, natural way to say "to go down," "to come down," or "to get off" (like stepping off a bus or train).

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