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French verbs conjugated by être


ChipshopCharlie
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Hi,

I hope there is a native French speaker that can help me with this.

I'm studying French and have been learning about the verbs that are conjugated by être in the passé composée.

My book says that there are twelve - aller, venir, entrer, sortir, arriver, partir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, revenir, retourner, tomber, rester, rentrer devenir - plus the reflexive verbs.

However, my neighbour has a French teacher (who is French), who insists there are more (but hasn't named any).

Can anybody clear this up for us?

Thanks

 

Charlie

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According to this site http://trc.ucdavis.edu/Carmen/HP-Carmen/Le%20passe.html

 

Les verbes intransitifs suivants sont conjugués avec l'auxiliaire être :


aller                arriver           décéder

devenir            entrer            mourir

naître              parvenir         partir

revenir            rester             tomber

venir

 

Les verbes suivants  (souvent conjugués avec être)  peuvent devenir des verbes transitifs,    

conjugués avec l'auxiliaire avoir s'ils sont accompagnés d'un objet direct :


descendre       rentrer            passer

monter           retourner         sortir

   

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Not perfect, but a guide, is that things someone else can't do for you take etre. If you look at the lists you have already, and add in the reflexive verbs (things you do to yourself, like brushing your teeth -- je me suis brossé les dents) then it'll probably make sense.

I'm not a native speaker, but I've been married to one, who teaches French to adults, for 35 years.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote user="Cassis"]Easiest rule of thumb I ever heard, applies in most cases - any active verb to do with movement and other verbs derived from them (aller, venir, descendre etc. etc.) plus all the reflexives (natch), naitre et mourir.
[/quote]

That's how we were taught at Grammar school.

Alcazar

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