Avoir or être? Check French compound verbs in a draft

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Check French compound verbs through worked contrasts: avoir or être, present or imparfait auxiliary, subject endings and participle agreement.

B1Practical guide2 min readIn the B1 notebook →
Three decisions, in order

Check the construction to choose avoir or être, the timeline to choose the auxiliary’s tense, then the participle and its agreement. In elle était partie, était carries person and tense; partie names the action and agrees with elle.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learnRed watch out

A woman carrying chairs out to a French garden terrace.
An action gives context to elle a sorti les chaises. Illustration: Atelier

Read the verb with its complements

The construction chooses the auxiliary
ConstructionExampleCheck
travaillerElle a travaillé hier.Most verbs use avoir.
partirElle est partie hier.Partir uses être.
sortir de la salleElle est sortie de la salle.She went out; être.
sortir les chaisesElle a sorti les chaises.She took something out; avoir.
se leverElle s’est levée tôt.A pronominal verb uses être; keep se.

A movement mnemonic misses elle a sorti les chaises. Here, the chairs are the direct object of sortir. Read the whole construction before choosing an auxiliary. For pronominal verbs, keep the pronoun in your check: se lever is the construction.

Now choose the time and subject form

Elle a terminé.She finished.

Focus: Passé composé: present auxiliary + past participle.

Elles sont arrivées à dix heures.
They arrived at ten.

Elle avait terminé avant mon arrivée.She had finished before I arrived.

Focus: Plus-que-parfait: imparfait auxiliary + past participle.

Elles étaient déjà arrivées quand j’ai appelé.
They had already arrived when I called.

Nous lui avions répondu.

We had replied to him or her.

Nous controls avions. Lui is the recipient, so it has no effect on the auxiliary ending.

How do you check the auxiliary in a French compound tense?

Three agreement relationships
FrenchReason
Elles sont parties.With this non-pronominal être verb, parties agrees with elles.
Elle a écrit les réponses.The direct object follows écrit, so the participle stays unchanged.
Les réponses qu’elle a écrites sont claires.The preceding direct object refers to feminine plural réponses.
Elle s’est lavé les mains.The direct object les mains follows; se is indirect here, so write lavé.
Check one complete verb group

A self-review aid, not a grade. Ticks are not saved.

Question 1No account needed
Use the passé composé for taking the chairs outside.Elle ___ sorti les chaises.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

a. Transitive sortir takes avoir. The requested passé composé uses the present auxiliary a.

Question 2No account needed
Complete the earlier action before my arrival.Quand je suis arrivé, elles ___ déjà parties.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

étaient. Partir takes être. The earlier-past viewpoint uses its imparfait form étaient.

Question 3No account needed
Choose the complete written negative.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Elle ne s’était pas levée.. Se lever takes être. Ne … pas surrounds s’était with the pronoun inside.

Question 4No account needed
Choose the participle.Les réponses qu’elle a ___ sont claires.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

écrites. The direct object qu’ refers to les réponses and precedes the participle: feminine plural écrites.

Keep going