Learn French: Les spectateurs que j'ai vus danser ont aimé la mélodie que j'ai entendu chanter. - The spectators that I saw dancing liked the melody that I heard being sung.

Word

Les spectateurs que j'ai vus danser ont aimé la mélodie que j'ai entendu chanter.

Meaning

The spectators that I saw dancing liked the melody that I heard being sung.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

French

Lesson

Past participle agreement with perception verbs

Breakdown of Les spectateurs que j'ai vus danser ont aimé la mélodie que j'ai entendu chanter.

Questions & Answers about Les spectateurs que j'ai vus danser ont aimé la mélodie que j'ai entendu chanter.

Why does vus agree with its object (adding an s) while entendu doesn't (no e added)?

This is the rule for verbs of perception followed by an infinitive. The past participle only agrees if the preceding direct object is the one performing the action of the infinitive. The spectators (que) were doing the dancing, so vus agrees with them. The melody (que) wasn't singing itself, so entendu stays invariable.

Why do we use the active verb chanter (to sing) when the English translation says "being sung"?

In French, when a verb of perception like entendre is followed by another action, you always use the active infinitive. You don't need a passive construction like "being sung" because the lack of agreement on entendu already signals that the melody is receiving the action, not doing it.

Why doesn't aimé agree with la mélodie?

In the passé composé with avoir, the past participle only agrees if the direct object comes before the verb. Here, the direct object of ont aimé is la mélodie, which comes right after it. Therefore, aimé does not change.

Would entendu agree if we removed the word chanter?

Yes! If there is no infinitive following the perception verb, the normal passé composé rules apply. If you just said "the melody that I heard" (la mélodie que j'ai entendue), you would add an e because the preceding direct object is feminine.