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Avoir ou être - choix de l'auxiliaire
avoir ou être ?
Choosing the proper auxiliary in composed tenses and passive form
In composed tenses, the verbs are conjugated with the auxiliary 'avoir' or 'être': the tenses are thus composed of a conjugated auxiliary and of the past participle of the verb, past participle whose agreement depends on the auxiliary: with the auxiliary 'avoir', the past participle agrees with the direct object complement (COD) only if there is one that is placed before it in the sentence. With the auxiliary 'être', the past participle agrees with the subject.
All the transitive verbs (those who can have a COD or an indirect object complement COI) are always conjugated with the auxiliary 'avoir' while all the pronominal verbs (those who are conjugated with a reflexive pronoun dealing with the same person or the same object than the subject : je me..., tu te..., il se..., elle se..., on se..., nous nous..., vous vous..., ils se..., elles se...) are always conjugated with the auxiliary 'être'. Some intransitive verbs (those who never have any COD and COI) are conjugated with the auxiliary 'être'. Some verbs describing a motion are conjugated with the auxiliary 'avoir' in a transitive way or with the auxiliary 'être' in an intransitive way. To conclude some verbs describing an exchange are normally conjugated with the auxiliary 'avoir' to put the emphasis on the exchange, but can also be conjugated with the auxiliary 'être' to insist on the result of that exchange.
The passive form, without being a true past participle, is always built with the auxiliary 'être'.
Transitive verb | Intransitive verb | Pronominal verb | Verb of motion | Verb of exchange | Passive form |
'avoir', agrees with the COD before it | 'avoir' in transitive use | 'avoir', puts the emphasis on the exchange | |||
Often 'être', agrees with the subject | 'être', agrees with the COD placed before it if it refers to the subject | 'être' in an intransitive use | 'être', puts the emphasis on the result | 'être', agrees with the subject |
Choose the proper auxiliary.
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