Breakdown of Les otages ont paniqué et la fille s'est accroupie.
être
to be
la fille
the girl
et
and
avoir
to have
Questions & Answers about Les otages ont paniqué et la fille s'est accroupie.
Why does s'est accroupie agree with the subject la fille?
S'accroupir (to crouch) is an "essentially pronominal" verb. This means it is almost exclusively used with a reflexive pronoun (se). Because the pronoun is just a built-in part of the verb rather than a separate direct object, the past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject. Since la fille is feminine, we add an -e.
Why isn't there an -s on paniqué since les otages is plural?
Paniquer uses the auxiliary verb avoir. Unlike reflexive verbs that use être (like s'accroupir), verbs conjugated with avoir never agree with their subject. They only agree with a preceding direct object, which we don't have in this clause.
Is the word otage always masculine?
Could I say la fille était accroupie instead?