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Après la mort du roi, tout a changé.

Après la mort du roi, tout a changé.
After the king's death, everything changed.
From Lesson 73:The passé composé with être·French

Breakdown of Après la mort du roi, tout a changé.

le roi
the king
changer
to change
tout
all, everything
après
after
la mort
the death

Questions & Answers about Après la mort du roi, tout a changé.

Why does tout a changé use a (avoir) instead of est (être) if changing is a change of state?
Good question! While you are learning that verbs showing a change of state (like being born or dying) use être in the passé composé, the verb changer (to change) is actually an exception to that rule. It almost always uses the auxiliary verb avoir.
Why is it du roi instead of de le roi?
In French, the preposition de (of/from) and the masculine word le (the) always combine to make du. You can never say de le together. Since roi (king) is masculine, 'of the king' becomes du roi.
I thought mort meant 'died'. Why does it say la mort?
You are exactly right that mort is the past participle of mourir (to die), as in il est mort (he died). However, many French words can be both a verb form and a noun. Here, la mort is a feminine noun meaning 'the death'.
Can tout mean 'everything' all by itself?
Yes! When used on its own to stand in for a noun, tout means 'everything'. Because 'everything' is treated as a single, singular idea in French, it takes the same verb form as il or elle. That is why we say tout a (everything has).

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