How to Teach the French Passé Composé with Être – A French Teacher’s Guide
When I teach the French passé composé, I introduce avoir as the helping verb first because it is used with most French verbs. Once students are comfortable forming the passé composé with avoir, I introduce the smaller group of verbs that use être.
This is an important step because students now have a new helping verb to remember, and they also have to learn a new rule. The past participle agrees with the subject when être is the helping verb.
I find that the easiest way to teach this is to break it into stages. First, students learn which verbs use être. Then they practice the basic structure. After that, I introduce agreement. Finally, I show them that some of these verbs can also use avoir depending on how they are used.
Passé Composé with Être – Vandertramp – French Student Lesson Handout Book
Start with the Basic Structure
I begin by reminding students that the passé composé has two parts:
helping verb + past participle
With most French verbs, the helping verb is avoir:
J’ai parlé.
I spoke.
Nous avons fini.
We finished.
Some verbs use être instead:
Je suis allé(e).
I went.
Nous sommes partis.
We left.
I make sure students are comfortable with the present-tense forms of être before moving on:
je suis
tu es
il / elle / on est
nous sommes
vous êtes
ils / elles sont
Then I give them the basic formula:
subject + être + past participle
For example:
Je suis allé(e) au marché.
Tu es parti(e) tôt.
Nous sommes arrivés à l’heure.
Elle est née en 2005.
Ils sont venus hier.
At this point, I don’t worry about all the exceptions. I want students to become comfortable with the basic structure first.
Introduce the Être Verbs
Once students understand the structure, I introduce the group of verbs that commonly use être in the passé composé.
This is where I use the familiar DR & MRS P VANDERTRAMP acronym as a memory aid.
The verbs are:
Devenir – devenu
Revenir – revenu
Monter – monté
Rentrer – rentré
Sortir – sorti
Passer – passé
Venir – venu
Arriver – arrivé
Naître – né
Descendre – descendu
Entrer – entré
Retourner – retourné
Tomber – tombé
Rester – resté
Aller – allé
Mourir – mort
Partir – parti
I don’t expect students to master this entire list immediately. I use the acronym as a reference while giving students lots of practice with the most common verbs.
aller – je suis allé(e)
partir – je suis parti(e)
arriver – je suis arrivé(e)
venir – je suis venu(e)
tomber – je suis tombé(e)
rester – je suis resté(e)
This gives students a manageable starting point.
French Passé Composé with Être – Vandertramp – Rock, Paper, Scissors Game
Teach Students to Build the Sentence
Once students have the verbs, I have them practice building simple sentences.
Je suis allé(e) au cinéma.
Tu es arrivé(e) à midi.
Elle est partie tôt.
Nous sommes restés à la maison.
Ils sont venus chez nous.
I want students to see that the main verb itself is not conjugated in the passé composé. The conjugated part is être, and the main verb appears as a past participle.
This is a good place to contrast the structure with the passé composé they already know:
J’ai parlé.
but:
Je suis allé(e).
The helping verb changes, but the idea of helping verb + past participle remains the same.
Introduce Past Participle Agreement
Once students are comfortable forming the passé composé with être, I introduce the rule that makes this construction especially important:
The past participle agrees with the subject.
I usually start with masculine and feminine singular:
Il est allé.
Elle est allée.
Then I add the plural:
Ils sont allés.
Elles sont allées.
I have students pay close attention to the endings:
allé
allée
allés
allées
The same pattern applies to other être verbs:
Il est arrivé.
Elle est arrivée.
Ils sont partis.
Elles sont parties.
Il est tombé.
Elle est tombée.
I tell students that the past participle is agreeing with the subject, so they need to look at who is doing the action.
French Passé Composé With Être – Vandertramp – Listen, Read, Write in French
Practice Agreement with Different Subjects
Before I introduce any complications, I give students plenty of practice changing the subject.
Il est allé au cinéma.
Change il to elle:
Elle est allée au cinéma.
Change elle to ils:
Ils sont allés au cinéma.
Change ils to elles:
Elles sont allées au cinéma.
I do the same thing with different verbs:
Il est parti tôt.
Elle est partie tôt.
Nous sommes arrivés à midi.
Nous sommes arrivées à midi.
Ils sont venus hier.
Elles sont venues hier.
This repeated practice helps students see agreement as part of the sentence rather than as a separate grammar rule they have to remember.
Add Negation
Once students are comfortable with the affirmative form, I introduce negation.
The rule is straightforward:
ne…pas goes around the helping verb.
For example:
Je suis allé(e) au marché.
Je ne suis pas allé(e) au marché.
Nous sommes partis à l’heure.
Nous ne sommes pas partis à l’heure.
Elle est arrivée tôt.
Elle n’est pas arrivée tôt.
I point out that pas comes before the past participle because the helping verb is what is being surrounded by ne…pas.
The pattern is:
ne + être + pas + past participle
This is another reason I like to teach the structure before adding too many other rules.
Now Introduce the Tricky Part: Avoir or Être?
Once students are comfortable with the common être verbs, I introduce an important complication.
Some of these verbs can also use avoir when they have a direct object.
The most useful ones to teach this way are:
monter
descendre
sortir
rentrer
passer
I don’t want students to think that these verbs automatically use être every single time. Instead, I have them look at how the verb is being used.
Monter
With être:
Il est monté.
He went up.
With avoir:
Il a monté les escaliers.
He went up the stairs.
Here, les escaliers is a direct object.
Descendre
With être:
Elle est descendue.
She went down.
With avoir:
Elle a descendu les valises.
She brought the suitcases down.
Sortir
With être:
Il est sorti.
He went out.
With avoir:
Il a sorti la poubelle.
He took out the trash.
Rentrer
With être:
Elle est rentrée.
She returned.
With avoir:
Elle a rentré les chaises.
She brought the chairs inside.
Passer
With être:
Il est passé.
He passed by.
With avoir:
Il a passé une semaine en France.
He spent a week in France.
I have students compare the two versions rather than trying to memorize another long list of rules.
The question I want them to ask is:
Is there a direct object?
If the verb is being used without a direct object, it may use être.
If it is being used transitively with a direct object, avoir may be required.
French Passé Composé with Être | Vandertramp Verbs | Conjugation & Agreement
Show Students How the Agreement Changes
This is also a good opportunity to show students why the choice between avoir and être matters.
Compare:
Elle est descendue.
The past participle agrees with elle because the helping verb is être.
But:
Elle a descendu les valises.
There is no subject agreement with descendu here because the helping verb is avoir.
Another example:
Ils sont sortis.
versus:
Ils ont sorti la poubelle.
This gives students a concrete reason to pay attention to the helping verb.
Practice Choosing the Helping Verb
Once I’ve taught the difference, I give students sentences where they have to choose the helping verb themselves.
Elle _______ arrivée à midi.
Elle est arrivée à midi.
Nous _______ partis tôt.
Nous sommes partis tôt.
Il _______ sorti la poubelle.
Il a sorti la poubelle.
Elle _______ descendue.
Elle est descendue.
Elle _______ descendu les valises.
Elle a descendu les valises.
This type of practice is much more useful than simply asking students to conjugate aller or partir in isolation. They have to decide which helping verb belongs in the sentence and then apply the correct agreement.
French Passé Composé with Être and Avoir – PowerPoint Jeopardy
Finish with a Mixed Review
At the end of the lesson, I like to mix everything together.
Students now have to think about several things:
Which helping verb do I need?
What is the past participle?
Does it need agreement?
If the sentence is negative, where does ne…pas go?
For example:
Elle _______ (aller) au cinéma.
Elle est allée au cinéma.
Ils _______ (partir) tôt.
Ils sont partis tôt.
Nous _______ (sortir) les poubelles.
Nous avons sorti les poubelles.
Elle _______ (sortir) hier soir.
Elle est sortie hier soir.
Nous _______ (arriver) à huit heures.
Nous sommes arrivés à huit heures.
This kind of mixed practice is where I want students to become independent. They aren’t simply applying one rule. They are looking at the whole sentence and making the correct choice.
Ready to Practice the Passé Composé with Être?
Once students understand the structure, agreement, and the difference between être and avoir, they need repeated practice to make the patterns automatic.
I’ve created French grammar resources that give students structured practice with the passé composé and the verbs that use être, including past participle agreement and the verbs that can also be used with avoir.
French Passé Composé with Être – Vandertramp Verbs Bundle
