As we discussed in the previous passé composé lesson on the “normal” avoir verbs, a few verbs use the present tense conjugation of être + past participle instead of avoir. These are the passé composé with être verbs. They have the same two steps to conjugate them as the avoir verbs, plus a third step.
What Are the Passé Composé with Être Verbs?
A common mnemonic, or memory aid to remember these verbs is to use the acronym “Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp”.
These verbs are all intransitive verbs (they don’t take direct objects), meaning they don’t involve doing things TO a third party. They’re mostly verbs of coming, going or staying, or of being born and dying.
| D | Descendre → descendu |
| r | Retourner → retourné |
| M | Mourir → mort |
| r | Revenir → revenu |
| s | Sortir → sorti |
| V | Venir → venu |
| a | Aller → allé |
| n | Naître → né |
| d | Devenir → devenu |
| e | Entrer → entré |
| r | Rester → resté |
| t | Tomber → tombé |
| r | Rentrer → rentré |
| a | Arriver → arrivé |
| m | Monter → monté |
| p | Partir → parti |
This list also includes all the versions of the verb in which re can be added to the beginning to make a verb that indicates that something is being done again. Rentrer and revenir are already on this list, but there’s also less common verbs like repartir and ressortir that you would also conjugate with être (as long as the verb is intransitive in the sentence).
Step 1: Form the Helping Verb for the Passé Composé with Être Verbs
Just as with normal passé composé verbs, the passé composé with être verbs need a helping verb. In this case, the helping verb will be the conjugated, present tense form of être.
| je suis | nous sommes |
| tu es | vous êtes |
| il est | ils sont |
Step 2: Form the Past Participle for the Passé Composé with Être Verbs
Most of the être verbs are have regular past participle ending patterns for -er, -ir, and -re verbs, which you should recognize from the previous lesson. As a reminder, you start with the infinitive, and then –er verbs drop the -er and end in é; –ir verbs drop the –ir and end in i; and –re verbs drop the –re and end in u.
A few examples, with both the correct and incorrect conjugations:
Je suis descendu. (NOT j’ai descendu)
Tu es tombé (NOT tu as tombé)
Il est allé. (NOT il a allé)
Irregular Être Verb Past Participles
The only three Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp verbs with irregular past participles are the two of living and dying: naître becomes né, and mourir becomes mort; and venir, which becomes venu.
Aller
Interestingly, although aller is irregular in the present and future tense, its past participle form is regular, and it is conjugated like any other -er verb, becoming allé.)
Être
Do you notice an important verb that’s not on this list? Être is a regular verb (because it is transitive; you can “be + SOMETHING”), meaning its passé composé form takes avoir. In the passé composé , être refers to specific periods of time and can also be translated as something “has/have been,” as well as to set up passive voice statements. For example:
J’ai été malade à la plage. (“I was sick at the beach.”)
Tu as été dans de nombreux pays. (“They have been to many countries.”)
Il a été publié qu’il est un menteur. (“It has been published that he is a liar.”)
You might have noticed that all the examples we’ve give so far of passé composé with être are of singular and presumably masculine subject pronouns. That’s intentional, because we have one more step to consider when conjugating être verbs.
Step 3: Ensure Subject-Verb Agreement with Être Verbs
Apart from being conjugated with être instead of avoir, Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp verbs are different in one other way: the past participle has to agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence. You make that agreement by adding an extra e and/or s to the end of the past participle form.
This rule means that there are four different past participle endings that an être verb conjugated in the past tense could take. For example, with rester (“to stay”) the four possibilities are:
Masculine singular: Tom est resté (no special ending)
Feminine singular: Susie est restée (add an e)
Masculine plural: Tom et Michelle sont restés (add an s but not an e)
Feminine plural: Susie et Michelle sont restées (add an s and an e)
Mixed gender subjects
Just like with French adjectives, having just one male in a group makes the past participle ending masculine, and therefore not need the extra e. Only when the subject is female do you get the additional -e ending. Similarly, only all-female groups will take take the e + s final ending.
Je as the subject
If you are using je as the subject pronoun, and the speaker is a female, her verbs need to get an extra e ending. The gender of whom the je is referring to may be something you only know through context, and if you’re not certain, stick with the masculine ending (meaning no extra e).
In summary, the difference between the “Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp” verbs and normal passé composé verbs is that you must conjugate these verbs with être, not avoir, and make sure the endings of the past participles of these verbs get s‘s and/or e‘s to match the subject of the sentence. That’s it, just those two simple differences.
Next Steps
That’s everything you need to know to form passé composé! You might want to learn about the imparfait next, or how to tell when to use passé composé versus the imparfait. Or maybe you’re ready to move on to the plus-que-parfait, the “past before the past”.
