French Grammar in Context

b Regular past participles are formed thus:

• -erverbs: replace -erwith -é, as in retourné(line 1), rentré(line 3)


• -irverbs: replace -irwith -i,as in assombri(line 4)


• -reverbs: replace -rewith -u, as in rendue(line 7)
  There are some irregular past participles to be learnt. These include: revenu(line 3), cru
  (line 4), découvert(line 5).

c Avoirand être
Most French verbs form the passé composéwith avoir, but there are a small number, mostly
verbs of motion, which use êtreinstead. In the text above, we have the examples of rentrer
(lines 2–3), revenir(line 3), rester(line 7), and arriver(line 8).
All pronominal/reflexive verbs form the passé composéwith être, e.g. le ciel s’est assombri, il s’est
découvert(lines 4, 5). The question of their past participle agreement is examined in Discover
more about the passé composé, below.

d Agreement of the past participle

• The past participle of avoirverbs agrees not with the subject of the verb, but with any
  preceding direct object which there might happen to be, e.g. in the passage above: je l’ai
  placée(line 1). Here placéeagrees with the feminine singular preceding direct object
  pronoun l’which stands for la chaise. Again, in line 7, there is an example of a past
  participle, rendue, agreeing with a preceding direct object: La pluie qui l’a rendue plus
  sombre. Here the pronoun l’stands for la rue.


• The past participle of êtreverbs (leaving aside the various categories of pronominal verbs)
  agrees in number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine) with the subject. The
  past participles rentré(line 3), revenu(line 3) and resté(line 7) in the passage above are
  masculine singular, because the subject, je, standing for the male narrator, is masculine
  singular. But the past participle arrivésin line 8 is masculine plural, because it agrees with
  the masculine plural subject, des tramways.

Other points to note in the text

• Infinitives: prendre(line 3); manger(line 3); avoir(line 4); regarder(line 7) (see Chapter 22)


• Pronominal verbs: s’est assombri(line 4); s’est découvert(line 5) (see Chapter 20)


• Pluperfect: avait laissé(line 6) (see Chapter 4)


• Prepositions: pour(line 3); à(lines 3 and 7); sur(line 6); dans(line 8); du(line 8), etc. (see
  Chapter 28)

Discover more about the passé composé

1 USAGE

a The passé composéis used in informal French (all spoken French except for oratory, and
informal writing such as personal correspondence) to narrate events which were completed in
the past. It is increasingly used in this way in newspapers and creative writing as well.

The passé composé 7