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The perfect tense with être

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The perfect tense with être 1

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Venir

Aller

Naître

Descendre

Entrer

Tomber

Rester

Arriver

Mourir

Partir

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Some verbs take être as their auxiliary verb. Unfortunately these must be learnt by heart. A useful way of learning them is to use the mnemonic MRS VANDETRAMP!

Some verbs take être as their auxiliary verb. Unfortunately these must be learnt by heart. A useful way of learning them is to use the mnemonic MRS VANDETRAMP!

Monter

Retourner

Sortir

Check that you know what all of these infinitives mean – there may be some here

that you have never met before, so you might have to use a dictionary!

Check that you know what all of these infinitives mean – there may be some here

that you have never met before, so you might have to use a dictionary!

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aller, venir, arriver,

tomber, mourir, naître, entrer,

monter, rester et partir,

retourner, descendre, sortir.

Don’t forget that if you add the letters re- (or r- before a vowel) to the beginning of some of these verbs, their meaning will change slightly, but they still take être as their auxiliary verb!Eg. revenir – to come back rentrer – to return

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Or maybe this rhyming list will help you to remember…

Or maybe this rhyming list will help you to remember…

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partir

revenir retournerrentrer tomber rester

Unfortunately you are left with a few odds and ends, and you might decide that some of these work better as partners in the pairs above. What do you think?

entrervenirmonternaîtrearriver

sortiraller

descendremourir

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Another helpful method of remembering the list might be to group them into matching pairs:

Another helpful method of remembering the list might be to group them into matching pairs:

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The perfect tense with être 5

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The perfect tense with être 6

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JeTu

IlElleOn

NousVous

IlsElles

______________________________________________________

suis

es

est

sommes

êtes

sont

suisesestestest

sommesêtessontsont

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So you know which verbs take être now, but how do they work?First of all remind yourself of all the parts of être in the present tense!

So you know which verbs take être now, but how do they work?First of all remind yourself of all the parts of être in the present tense!

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Unlike avoir verbs, where you simply put the past participle after the auxiliary without changing it (j’ai joué, elles ont joué etc.), with être verbs, the past participle must agree with the subject of a verb. This means that it works just like an adjective.

To help you understand, look at the examples below:

Je suis alléen

Angleterre!

Je suis alléeen

Angleterre!

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Did you note the difference between the two sentences?

Loïc said:

The perfect tense with être 9

Je suis alléen

Angleterre!

Je suis alléeen Angleterre!

Because Loïc is a boy, there is no need to add anything to the past participle. Aller is an -er verb, so the -er ending has changed to -é just as with regular avoir verbs.But Camille is a girl, so when she uses the past participle of an être verb, it must take an extra -e and become feminine, just like an adjective would.

and Camille said:

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Je suis arrivéà 5h.

Je suis resté

chez moi.

Je suis rentré

à minuit.

How would Camille say it?

Je suis arrivéeà 5h.

Je suis restée

chez moi.

Je suis rentrée

à minuit.

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Faites des phrases!

Je suis retourné(e)Je suis rentré(e)Je suis revenu(e)

Je suis parti(e)Je suis sorti(e)Je suis allé(e)Je suis monté(e)

Je suis mort(e) Je suis né(e)Je suis descendu(e)

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JeTuIlElleOnNousVousIlsElles

suis allé(e)es allé(e)est alléest alléeest allésommes allé(e)s

sont allésêtes allé(e)(s)

sont allées

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So far so good, but that’s just the je part of the verb. Look at the whole of aller in the perfect tense. Using what you’ve learnt, can you work out why all the bracketed letters need to be there?

So far so good, but that’s just the je part of the verb. Look at the whole of aller in the perfect tense. Using what you’ve learnt, can you work out why all the bracketed letters need to be there?

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Can you translate the sentences?

1 Le week-end dernier, je _____ _________ au cinéma. (aller)

2 À 5 kilomètres de Nice, nous ________ _________ en panne. (tomber)

3 Je _____ _________ en 1988. (naître)

4 On _____ _________ sur la colline. (monter)

5 Samedi dernier, Marie et moi _______ _________ à la ferme. (rester)

6 Hier soir, vous _____ ___________

avant moi. (rentrer)

suis

suis

est

sommes

sommes

êtes

allé(e)

tombé(e)s

né(e)

monté

resté(e)s

rentré(e)(s)

Fill in the gaps in the sentences using the verbs in brackets .

Can you explain why the (e) or (s) in brackets might be needed?

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