Passé Composé with Être - DR MRS VANDERTRAMP

Imagine a house with many rooms and stairs. We often call this the "House of Être". People enter the house and they leave it. They go upstairs and they come downstairs. They are born in the house and they die. These actions represent the core of our special list. If the verb describes a physical movement of the whole body, it likely uses être. If it describes a major life change, it uses être. It is not about what you do to an object. It is about where you go or what you become. Think of it as the "Self-Movement" tense. You are the one moving through space and time. This logic covers almost every verb in our special list. It makes the list feel much more intuitive.

1. 1Creating this tense requires four simple steps. Follow them closely to avoid mistakes.
2. 2Start with your subject (like je, tu, or Marie).
3. 3Add the present tense of être (the helper verb).
4. 4Add the past participle of your main verb.
5. 5Add the "agreement" to the end of the participle.
6. 6Agreement is the most important part here. If the subject is feminine, add an e. If the subject is plural, add an s. If it is both, add es. For example, elle est allée needs that extra e. Ils sont partis needs that extra s. It is like matching your shoes to your outfit. Everything must agree in gender and number. This is different from verbs that use avoir. With être, the subject and the action are linked.

Use this pattern for the seventeen DR MRS VANDERTRAMP verbs. These include descendre, rester, monter, and revenir. Use it for mourir, retourner, and sortir. It also covers venir, arriver, naître, and devenir. Don't forget entrer, rentrer, tomber, rester, aller, and partir. You also use être for all reflexive verbs. Reflexive verbs are those like se laver or se coucher. If you see a se in the infinitive, use être. Use it when telling stories about your day. "I went to the store" becomes je suis allé au magasin. "She arrived late" becomes elle est arrivée en retard. It is perfect for travel diaries and biographies.

Do not use être for most French verbs. Most actions like eating, sleeping, or buying use avoir. There is a tricky exception for some movement verbs. Verbs like passer, monter, and descendre can change. If you use them with a direct object, use avoir. For example, je suis descendu means "I went down". But j'ai descendu la valise means "I took down the suitcase". In the second sentence, you are moving an object. The object (the suitcase) changes the helper verb. This is the "traffic light" of French grammar. If there is an object, stop and use avoir. If there is no object, go with être.

Forgetting the agreement is the number one error. Many people write elles sont allé instead of allées. Always check your subject before finishing the sentence. Another mistake is using avoir by habit. You might say j'ai allé because it feels natural. This is a classic "Anglicism" because English uses "have". Remember, you "are" gone in French logic. Don't forget the irregular past participles in the list. Mourir becomes mort, not mouru. Naître becomes né, not naîté. These irregulars are like little grammar speed bumps. Just slow down and memorize the specific forms. Even university students mix these up sometimes.

Compare être verbs with avoir verbs. With avoir, you usually don't worry about agreement. Elle a mangé stays the same regardless of the subject. But with être, the participle acts like an adjective. It describes the state of the subject. Think of je suis tombé as "I am fallen". This helps explain why we need the extra e or s. It is a closer link between subject and verb. In English, we say "I have arrived". In French, we essentially say "I am arrived". This shift in perspective is the hardest part. Once you accept it, the rest is easy. It makes your French sound much more authentic.