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French Topic

Être Verb Agreement

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Study focus - 3 things

  1. Past participles with être usually agree with the subject
  2. Add e for feminine, s for plural, and es for feminine plural
  3. Agreement is a common exam slip-up in translation and rewriting tasks

Section 1The agreement rule

With être verbs in the passé composé, the past participle usually agrees with the subject. Masculine singular has no extra ending, feminine adds e, plural adds s, and feminine plural adds es. This is one of the most common exam slip-ups.

Section 2Masculine and feminine

Il est allé means he went. Elle est allée means she went. Easy to mix up - the extra e may be silent, but it still matters in writing.

Section 3Singular and plural

Ils sont partis means they went out or they left, for a masculine or mixed group. Elles sont parties is used for an all-feminine group. Watch out: the spoken sound may not clearly show the written agreement.

Section 4Using the rule in sentences

First choose être, then form the past participle, then check the subject for agreement. For example, mes soeurs sont arrivées because soeurs is feminine plural.

Examples

Complete: Elle est allé__.

Elle is feminine singular, so add e. The answer is Elle est allée.

Translate: The girls arrived in Ocho Rios.

Arriver uses être. Girls is feminine plural, so add es: Les filles sont arrivées à Ocho Rios.

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