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Passé composé with être: allé, allée, allés or allées?

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Choose the right written ending with être: a four-form table, clear subjects, polite vous and five questions on agreement and auxiliary choice.

In short

With aller, arriver and partir in the passé composé, the participle agrees with the subject. Compare il est allé, elle est allée, ils sont allés and elles sont allées.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

Two women arriving together with travel bags at a French station platform.
A shared arrival gives context to elles sont arrivées. Illustration: Atelier

Avec être · les accords

1 · One man: the base form

A masculine singular subject takes the base participle. Choose the singular auxiliary too.

Paul est arrivé à midi.Paul arrived at noon.

2 · One woman: add -e

A feminine singular subject takes -e: arrivée, partie, allée.

Inès est partie à huit heures.Inès left at eight.

3 · Several people: add -s

Use masculine plural for an all-male or mixed group in standard agreement. An all-female group takes -es.

Paul et Inès sont partis ensemble.Paul and Inès left together.

Inès et Léa sont parties ensemble.Inès and Léa left together.

4 · Polite vous can mean one person

The auxiliary is always êtes with vous. The participle follows the person or people addressed.

Madame, vous êtes arrivée en avance.Madam, you arrived early.

Messieurs, vous êtes arrivés en avance.Gentlemen, you arrived early.

5 · Check the auxiliary first

Marcher takes avoir. Its participle stays marché in this sentence, even with a feminine subject.

Léa a marché pendant une heure.Léa walked for an hour.

Four spellings; two agreement decisions
SubjectAuxiliaryParticiple
ilestallé
elleestallée
ilssontallés
ellessontallées

Allé, allée, allés and allées sound alike here. The written ending still matters. First find who went; then check whether the subject is singular or plural. The auxiliary has its own agreement: elle est becomes elles sont.

How does on agree in the passé composé?

Nous sommes arrivées ensemble.

We arrived together.

All the speakers in this group are women. A masculine or mixed group writes arrivés.

On est arrivées à midi.

We arrived at noon.

Two women are speaking about themselves. On keeps est; the participle can reflect the known group.

For an indefinite on, masculine singular is the usual default. For on meaning a known “we”, the participle can show that group’s gender and number. The auxiliary remains singular in both cases.

How do reflexive verbs agree in the passé composé?

Elle s’est lavée. Elle s’est lavé les mains.

She washed herself. She washed her hands.

The following object les mains changes the agreement analysis. The linked reflexive-verbs page develops this pair.

Question 1No account needed
Complete for two women who left early.Elles sont ___ tôt.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

parties. Elles is feminine plural, so the participle is parties.

Question 2No account needed
Address one woman politely.Madame, vous êtes ___ à midi.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

arrivée. Polite vous refers to one woman here, so arrivée stays singular.

Question 3No account needed
Choose the complete sentence for a mixed group.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

Paul et Inès sont partis.. The plural subject takes sont; standard mixed-group agreement gives partis.

Question 4No account needed
Complete this sentence with marcher.Léa a ___ pendant une heure.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

marché. Marcher takes avoir; marché gains no ending from the subject here.

Question 5No account needed
Léa and Inès are speaking about themselves. Choose the agreed participle.On est ___ ensemble.

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

arrivées. With on meaning these two women, arrivées shows feminine plural agreement.

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