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Elles sont toutes allées rejoindre le guide, sauf ma grand-mère.

Elles sont toutes allées rejoindre le guide, sauf ma grand-mère.
They all went to join the guide, except my grandmother.
From Lesson 127:Past participle agreement with the subject (elles sont allées)·French

Questions & Answers about Elles sont toutes allées rejoindre le guide, sauf ma grand-mère.

Why does allées have an extra -es at the end?
Because the verb aller (to go) uses être as its helping verb in the past tense. When a verb uses être, its past participle has to match the subject, almost like an adjective. Since the subject here is Elles (a group of females), we add an -e for feminine and an -s for plural, making it allées.
Why is the word for "all" (toutes) placed in the middle of the verb, and why is it feminine plural?
In French, the word for "all" often sits between the helping verb (sont) and the past participle (allées). It is spelled toutes with an -es because it refers directly to the feminine plural subject, Elles.
Why isn't there a word for "to" between allées and rejoindre?
When you use the verb aller (to go) to say you "went to do" something, the second verb follows directly in its infinitive (unconjugated) form. You don't need to add a preposition like à or pour in between. So, allées rejoindre simply means "went to join".
I haven't seen sauf before. Is it a verb?
No, sauf is a preposition that means "except" or "excluding". Here, it is used to show that the grandmother was the only one who didn't go join the guide.

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