Learn French: Le tueur a été arrêté hier soir. - The killer was arrested last night.

Le tueur a été arrêté hier soir.

The killer was arrested last night.

Breakdown of Le tueur a été arrêté hier soir.

to stop (something), to arrest

Questions & Answers about Le tueur a été arrêté hier soir.

If I wanted to say 'He is a killer' based on this lesson, would I use Il est tueur or C'est un tueur?

You would use C'est un tueur. Although you learned to drop the article for professions (Il est médecin), being a killer is not an official profession. For nouns that describe a person's behavior, nature, or an unofficial role, you use C'est un(e) + noun.

Why does the sentence use a été arrêté instead of just est arrêté?

This is the passive voice in the past tense (passé composé). Il est arrêté is the present tense passive ('He is being arrested' or 'He is under arrest'). To describe a completed action in the past ('He was arrested'), you must put the helping verb être into the past tense (a été) and add the past participle (arrêté).

If the subject was female (la tueuse), how would the verb change?

The past participle would add an e to agree with the feminine subject: La tueuse a été arrêtée. In the passive voice, the main past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject. Notice that the participle été never changes.

Why translate 'last night' as hier soir and not la nuit dernière?

In French, hier soir (literally 'yesterday evening') covers the time from late afternoon until you go to bed. Unless the arrest happened at 3 AM while the town was asleep, French speakers use hier soir for 'last night'. La nuit dernière is strictly used for the deep, sleeping hours of the night.