The French passé composé with être

You will learn how to form the French passé composé with être, then practise choosing the correct agreement.

First, the rule. How do you form the passé composé with être?

The passé composé describes completed past actions or events. Certain verbs, including aller, arriver, partir, and tomber, use être in this tense. Use the present tense of être, followed by a past participle that agrees with the subject.

For a masculine singular subject, the participle allé has no extra ending. For a feminine singular subject, add e to make allée. For a masculine plural subject, add s to make allés.

For a feminine plural subject, add e and s to make allées. Il est allé. Here, il is masculine singular, so allé has no extra ending.

Elle est allée. Here, elle is feminine singular, so allée takes an extra e. Elles sont allées.

Here, elles is feminine plural, so allées takes e and s. A common mistake is choosing être correctly but forgetting the participle ending. Do not assume that every verb describing movement uses être.

The auxiliary must also match the subject: est goes with il or elle, while sont goes with ils or elles.

Question one. Paul est ____ à midi. Option A, arrivée. Option B, arrivé. Option C, arrivés.

The clue is Paul, a masculine singular subject. Arriver uses être here, and est already matches Paul. The participle needs no extra agreement ending.

Rule out option A, arrivée, because its extra e marks feminine agreement. Rule out option C, arrivés, because its extra s marks plural agreement. Choose option B, arrivé.

Paul est arrivé à midi.

Question two. Marie est ____ au cinéma. Option A, allée. Option B, allé. Option C, allées.

The clue is Marie, a feminine singular subject. Aller uses être, so its past participle must agree with Marie. Add e to allé to make allée.

Rule out option B, allé, because it lacks the feminine ending. Rule out option C, allées, because its extra s makes it plural. Choose option A, allée.

Marie est allée au cinéma.

Question three. Lucie et Emma sont ____. Option A, partis. Option B, partie. Option C, parties.

The clue is Lucie et Emma, two female people. The subject is feminine plural, and sont is the plural form of être. Partir uses être, so add e and s to parti.

Rule out option A, partis, because it lacks the feminine e. Rule out option B, partie, because it lacks the plural s. Choose option C, parties.

Lucie et Emma sont parties.

Question four. Paul et Marc sont ____. Option A, tombé. Option B, tombés. Option C, tombées.

The clue is Paul et Marc, two male people. The subject is masculine plural. Tomber uses être, so add s to tombé.

Rule out option A, tombé, because it lacks the plural s. Rule out option C, tombées, because its extra e marks feminine agreement. Choose option B, tombés.

Paul et Marc sont tombés.