Le Passé Composé with Être
The passé composé of certain French verbs uses the present tense form of être as helping verb. You need to add the past participle of the verb you want to use in the past tense, and be sure to make agreement with the subject. You can download a free PDF of this list in my private French Grammar Library.
Watch my video lesson on this grammar topic below. I’ll explain all of the rules with lots of examples.
Many verbs that use être as a helping verb are intransitive verbs, which means they are not followed by direct objects.
Although many of these verbs involve some type of motion, it is important not to confuse verbs that use être as a helping verb with action verbs, because many action verbs use avoir as a helping verb.
Most of the verbs on the following list express a change of place, state, or condition. We can think of verbs that use être as verbs that indicate some sort of coming or going, even in a metaphorical sense (like being born and dying).
Reflexive verbs are not on this list, but it important to not that they also use être as a helping verb in the passé composé.
Some of the verbs on the following list can also use avoir as a helping verb when they are followed by a direct object.
CONJUGATION OF HELPING VERB ÊTRE:
| JE SUIS | NOUS SOMMES |
| TU ES | VOUS ÊTES |
| IL – ELLE – ON EST | ILS – ELLES SONT |
Le Passé Composé With Être Verb List
