The perfect tense with être
Je suis allé, elle est partie, nous nous sommes levés: the verbs that take être, and the past participle that agrees.
Learn
The perfect tense with être, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Learn the verbs that take être
Some verbs, most of them about moving, use être instead of avoir: aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, rester, tomber, naître, mourir, retourner and rentrer, with devenir and revenir. Many students learn them with the name MRS VAN DER TRAMP, one letter for each verb.
Form the perfect with être
Use the present of être, then the participle: je suis allé, tu es parti, il est arrivé, nous sommes venus, vous êtes restés, ils sont sortis. A few participles in this group are irregular: venu from venir, né (born) and mort (died).
Make the participle agree with the subject
After être, the participle agrees like an adjective: add -e for a female subject, -s for a plural and -es for a female plural. Il est parti, elle est partie, ils sont partis, elles sont parties.
Agree with je, tu and vous by who the person is
With je and tu, the ending depends on who is speaking or being spoken to: a girl writes je suis allée, a boy je suis allé. Vous can be one person or several, so it is vous êtes arrivée to one woman and vous êtes arrivés to a group.
Use être for every reflexive verb
Reflexive verbs take être too, with the pronoun before it: je me suis levé, elle s'est habillée, nous nous sommes couchés. The participle agrees with the subject in the same way.
Make the participle agree with a direct object that comes first
With avoir, the participle does not agree with the subject. But when a direct object pronoun comes before the verb, the participle agrees with it: ma tante ? Je l'ai vue samedi. Here l' stands for ma tante, so vu becomes vue.
Make it agree with les and que as wellHigher only
At Higher you meet les and the relative que, which also come before the verb: mes clés ? Je les ai perdues, la robe que j'ai achetée. You can hear the agreement only when the participle ends in a consonant: pris becomes prise, and écrit becomes écrite.
The perfect tense with être key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Auxiliary être
- The helper verb for the verbs of movement and for reflexive verbs in the perfect tense: je suis allé, je me suis levé.
- Agreement
- Adding -e, -s or -es to the participle so it matches the subject after être: elles sont arrivées.
- MRS VAN DER TRAMP
- A memory aid whose letters stand for the verbs that take être, from monter and rester to mourir and partir.
- né and mort
- Born and died, the participles of naître and mourir: je suis né en 2010, elle est morte en 1990.
- Preceding direct object
- A direct object that comes before the verb, such as the pronoun l'. With avoir, the participle agrees with it: je l'ai vue.
- rentrer
- To go home or to come back in: je suis rentré à minuit means I got home at midnight.
- rester
- To stay, not to rest, and it takes être: nous sommes restés à la maison means we stayed at home.
Common mistakes in The perfect tense with être
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Using avoir with a verb of movement, as in j'ai allé.
Aller and the other verbs on the list take être: je suis allé, elle est venue. Learn the list as a group.
Leaving off the agreement, as in elle est arrivé.
After être, the participle matches the subject: elle est arrivée, ils sont arrivés, elles sont arrivées.
Making the participle agree with the subject after avoir, as in elle a mangée.
With avoir, the participle does not agree with the subject: elle a mangé. It agrees only with a direct object that comes before the verb.
Taking rester to mean rest, as in je suis resté for I rested.
Rester means to stay: je suis resté chez moi is I stayed at home. To rest is se reposer.
Leaving out the reflexive pronoun in the perfect, as in je suis levé for I got up.
Keep the pronoun before être: je me suis levé, elle s'est levée.
Practice
Try a The perfect tense with être question
A GCSE-style original question from this topic. Have a go before you open the working - deciding on an answer first is what makes the working stick.
Your friend asks about your cousin: Tu as vu Emma ? Which reply is right?
- Oui, je l'ai vu au parc.
- Oui, je l'ai vue au parc.
- Oui, je suis vue au parc.
- Oui, je la ai vue au parc.
Show the answer and the working
Answer: Oui, je l'ai vue au parc.
L' stands for Emma and comes before the verb, so with avoir the participle agrees with it: je l'ai vue, I saw her.
- L' stands for Emma, a feminine direct object.
- It comes before ai vu, so the participle agrees with it.
- Je l'ai vue: I saw her.