auxiliaries être ( to be) and avoir ( to have)

13 oct. 2017 08:36 - language-swap

Niveau débutant

French language has two auxiliaries : “être” (to be) and “avoir” (to have).
They both are used in compound tenses. Now let's see which one to chose.

Être (to be) is used in compound tenses with intransitive verbs, at the passive voice and with the pronominal verbs.
Example:
Elles sont allées à la boulangerie.
La souris est mangée par le chat.
Ils se sont douchés.
/!\ Warning :
It is important to remember that when using the verb “être” (to be), the past participle agrees with the subject of the sentence.

“Avoir” (to have) is used in compound tenses with almost every transitive verbs and the active voice.
Example:
J'ai vu un film hier soir.
Lucie a beaucoup pleuré.

/!\ Warning
Some verbs can be used with both of the auxiliary according to the part of the sentence you want to highlight: if you want to insist on the action you have to use the verb “avoir” (to have) and if you want to insist on the person you have to use the verb “être” (to be)
Example:
Mes parents ont changé leur lit de place.
Mes parents sont changés depuis leurs vacances.

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