Lesson 7 - Grammar 4 - Accord du participe passé
In French for beginners, level 1, lesson 9 and 10, we learned that the ‘passé composé’ was formed by using the past participle preceded by the present tense of the auxiliaries ‘avoir’ and ‘être’.
The past participle agrees in gender and number according to a set of rules. These rules are going to be different according to whether the verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary ‘être’ or ‘avoir’.
a. The past participle of verbs conjugated with ‘être’ agrees in gender and number with the subject:
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
Elles sont parties. | They left. |
Ils sont descendus. | They've gone down. |
b. The past participle of verbs conjugated with ‘avoir’ agrees with the direct object of the verb if that object precedes the verb:
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
Les journaux que j'ai lus. | The newspapers I read. |
La route que j'ai prise. | The road I took. |
Ces livres, où les avez-vous trouvés? | These books, where did you find them? |
but:
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
J'ai lu les journaux. | I read the newspapers. |
J'ai pris cette route. | I took this road. |
Où avez-vous trouvé ces livres? | Where did you find these books? |
There is no agreement if ‘en’ is the direct object pronoun:
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
J'en ai traduit. | I translated some. |
Je les ai traduites. | I translated them. |
There is usually no agreement if the past participle is followed by an infinitive:
French / Français | English / Anglais |
---|---|
C'est la lettre qu'il a fait taper. | It is the letter he had typed. |
C'est la lettre qu'il a tapée. | It is the letter he typed. |