Breakdown of Les clientes se sont accroupies et ne se sont pas rebellées.
être
to be
et
and
ne
not (used before the verb)
pas
not (used after the verb)
le client
the client / the customer
s'accroupir
to crouch
se rebeller
to rebel
Questions & Answers about Les clientes se sont accroupies et ne se sont pas rebellées.
Why do accroupies and rebellées both end in -es here?
Because they are "essentially pronominal" verbs. For verbs that only exist in a reflexive form, the past participle in the passé composé always agrees with the subject. Since the subject here is les clientes (feminine plural), both participles must add -es.
What exactly makes s'accroupir and se rebeller "essentially" pronominal? Can I just say j'ai accroupi?
No, you can't! An essentially pronominal verb is one that does not exist without its reflexive pronoun. You cannot accroupir (crouch) an object or another person; you can only crouch yourself (s'accroupir). The same is true for se rebeller.
Why do we have to repeat se sont? Couldn't we just say se sont accroupies et pas rebellées?
In French, when you connect two reflexive verbs with et in the passé composé, you generally must repeat both the reflexive pronoun (se) and the auxiliary verb (sont). You can't strip the second verb down to just the participle like you sometimes can in English.
Where do ne and pas go when negating a reflexive verb in the passé composé?
The negation frames the "pronoun + auxiliary" block. The ne goes immediately before the reflexive pronoun (se), and the pas goes right after the conjugated auxiliary verb (sont), which is why we see ne se sont pas rebellées.
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