Using être and avoir in French

The helping verbs être and avoir are used to build compound tenses in French. A compound tense is made of a conjugated helping verb (être or avoir) and the past participle of the main verb. For example, in the passé composé, we say "j'ai mangé" (using avoir) or "je suis allé" (using être).

The helping verb avoir

The helping verb avoir is the default helping verb in French. This means we use it most of the time to conjugate verbs in compound tenses.

For example, with the verb "manger" (to eat), we say:

• J'ai mangé. (I ate.)
• Tu as mangé. (You ate.)

Here are other examples of verbs that use the helping verb avoir:

• J'ai nagé. (I swam.)
• J'ai regardé la télévision. (I watched television.)
• J'ai cuisiné. (I cooked.)

The helping verb être

The helping verb être is used with a specific group of verbs. You need to memorize this list because it only has about 15 verbs, plus their variations.

These verbs are often verbs of movement or change of state. They often go in pairs, expressing opposite ideas:

• Naître (to be born - to appear in life) and mourir (to die - to stop living).
• Monter (to go up) and descendre (to go down).
• Entrer (to enter) and sortir (to go out). (And their variations: rentrer (to go back in), ressortir (to go out again)).
• Arriver (to arrive) and partir (to leave). (And its variation: repartir (to leave again)).

There are also basic verbs like:

• Aller (to go).
• Venir (to come). (And its variations: revenir (to come back), devenir (to become)).

Finally, other verbs that use the helping verb être are:

• Passer (to pass by).
• Rester (to stay).
• Retourner (to return).
• Tomber (to fall).

For example, with these verbs, we say:

• Je suis né. (I was born.)
• Je suis mort. (I died.)
• Je suis monté. (I went up.)
• Je suis descendu. (I went down.)
• Je suis entré. (I entered.)
• Je suis sorti. (I went out.)
• Je suis arrivé. (I arrived.)
• Je suis parti. (I left.)
• Je suis allé. (I went.)
• Je suis venu. (I came.)
• Je suis passé. (I passed by.)
• Je suis resté. (I stayed.)
• Je suis retourné. (I returned.)
• Je suis tombé. (I fell.)

Pronominal verbs

All pronominal verbs use the helping verb être in compound tenses. A pronominal verb is a verb that is used with a reflexive pronoun (me, te, se, nous, vous, se).

For example:

• Je me suis lavé. (I washed myself.)
• Tu t'es douché. (You showered yourself.)
• Il s'est levé. (He got up.)

The passive voice

The passive voice also uses the helping verb être. The passive voice is a structure where the subject receives the action, instead of doing it.

For example:

• La maison est peinte par Jean. (The house is painted by Jean. - In the present tense, but using the helping verb être.)

Special cases with the helping verb avoir

There are cases where some verbs from the être list can take the helping verb avoir if they are followed by a direct object (COD). The COD is a word or group of words that directly completes the verb without a preposition.

For example, with the verb sortir (to go out):

• Je suis sorti hier avec mes copains. (I went out yesterday with my friends. - No direct object, so use être.)
• J'ai sorti la voiture du garage. (I took the car out of the garage. - "la voiture" is the direct object, so use avoir.)

This is the same for the verbs monter (to go up), descendre (to go down), and passer (to pass by):

• Je suis descendu (no COD) but j'ai descendu la montagne (the mountain is the COD). (I went down but I took the mountain down.)
• Je suis monté (no COD) but j'ai monté la montagne (the mountain is the COD). (I went up but I climbed the mountain.)
• Je suis passé devant le magasin (no COD) but j'ai passé un examen (an exam is the COD). (I passed by the store but I passed an exam.)

Agreement of the past participle

The agreement of the past participle depends on the helping verb used:

• With the helping verb être, the past participle always agrees with the subject. For example, "Elles sont allées à Paris" (we add -es because "elles" is feminine plural).
• With the helping verb avoir, the past participle never agrees with the subject. For example, "Elles ont regardé la télévision" (the past participle stays the same, even though "elles" is feminine plural).

There are a few exceptions and more complex rules for past participle agreement with the helping verb avoir and a direct object, but for an introduction, this general rule is a good start.