Hello friends, I hope you are enjoying learning French as much as I do. I am quite excited to start this book from Coffee Break Languages.
Personally, I really enjoyed Coffee Break Podcasts and how Mark teaches a new language, so as soon as I found out that there is a book that he made, I did not hesitate to grab one.
If you are learning a language long enough, I know that you will understand there is always one thing that you always keep getting wrong. For me is Passé Composé with reflexive verbs. I either mixed up the order, I forgot to use être or I did not match with its gender and number of the subject.
As soon as I realised that I made the same mistake again today… I decided to dedicate myself to writing a post about it again. C’est parti.
Passé composé with avoir
I am more than sure that you all know about it:
subject + avoir + past participle
No need to match its gender or number on the tail of the past participle. C’est assez simple, non? Only if the rule remains as is with all verbs… I would be happy as a bird, minding my own business.
Let us start from where we know…
Okay, now, focus. Let’s start.
Passé composé with avoir
subject + avoir + past participle
Examples:
French: J'ai mangé une pomme. English: I ate an apple.
French: Ils ont bu du vin. English: They drank wine.
French: Ils ont fini leurs devoirs. English: They finished their homework.
All good right? Next.
Passé composé with être - exclusive to the verbs that are in « the être house »
Wait exclusive? Yeah, mega exclusive. Only verbs that are in the house are invited. House? What house? In house? Who are they? Tiens.
C’est assez impressionnant non? Only these verbs are following the formula below:
subject + être + past participle (+ numbers & genders)
What’s changed with forming passé composé is :
We no longer use avoir, but être.
PLUS
The past participle agrees with the subject with the numbers and gender.
Examples:
French: Elle est arrivée en retard. English: She arrived late.
French: Tu es resté(e) à la maison. English: You stayed at home.
French: Il est monté dans le train. English: He got on the train.
French: Nous sommes retourné(e)s à l'hôtel. English: We returned to the hotel.
So! For the verbs that are in the être house, we follow the être passé composé formula, and for the rest of the verbs we follow the avoir passé composé. Okay, we finished with passé composé right?
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!
Passé composé with a reflexive verb
subject + se + être + past participle (+ numbers & genders)
Finally, we are here. What is different to the last one? ONLY the reflexive pronoun is new. But here, watch out for the order. The pronoun comes before the être. Alrighty, let’s check out some examples.
Examples:
French: Tu t'es endormi(e) pendant le film. English: You fell asleep during the movie.
French: Ils se sont disputés à propos de la politique. English: They argued about politics.
French: Il s'est blessé en faisant du sport. English: He got injured while playing sport
French: Elles se sont maquillées pour la fête. English: They (feminine) put on makeup for the party.
Did you notice something? Verbs also that are outside of « La maison être » are used!
Therefore, regardless the verb is in the house or not, if there is a reflexive verb (of course with its reflexive pronoun before the auxiliary verb), être is used and the past participle is changed according to the gender and number.
Hope it helped. Why not practice making these sentences in French for a self-study? I will write the answer in the comment for you.
I ate breakfast this morning.
She visited her grandmother last weekend.
We finished our homework before dinner.
He went to the store to buy groceries.
They stayed at a hotel during their vacation.
You (singular) woke up late today.
She got dressed quickly because she was late.
We met at the café at noon.
J'ai pris le petit-déjeuner ce matin.
Elle a rendu visite à sa grand-mère le week-end dernier.
Nous avons fini nos devoirs avant le dîner.
Il est allé au magasin pour acheter des provisions.
Ils sont restés à l'hôtel pendant leurs vacances.
Tu t'es réveillé(e) tard aujourd'hui.
Elle s'est habillée rapidement parce qu'elle était en retard.
Nous nous sommes rencontrés au café à midi.