#cxtetootsie
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Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.
Make it descriptive, including relevant context, but also to the point. This way you improve your chances of getting a more relevant and specific answer.
well, conjugating the verb être in the past tense requires two steps (just like any other verb)
- first, you choose the correct auxiliary verb, which is the avoir auxiliary in this case, and you conjugate it according to your grammatical person
- e.g. J'ai
- then, you just add the past participle of the verb that you have; for the verb être, its past participle is « été »
- e.g. J'ai été
knowing this, can you conjugate the verb être in the past tense for the pronoun « tu » ?
- e.g. J'ai été
Is there any case where this rule would change?
don't forget the accents
Yes, sorry I'm typing on computer.
there are two types of verbs where you have to use the être auxiliary instead of the avoir auxiliary
- DR. and MRS. VANDERTRAMP verbs
- pronominal verbs
are you familiar with either of them?
No, we haven't learned those in class yet I dont think
also, there are a lot of irregular past participles to look out for
oh okay
so for now you'll use the avoir auxiliary
ok
also, there is one exception that you might come across with verbs that use the avoir auxiliary in the past tense
normally, the direct object of a verb is placed after the verb
- Le garçon a mangé une pomme.
(here, « une pomme » is a direct object)
however, when this direct object is replaced by a direct object pronoun, it gets scooched before the verb - Le garçon **l'**a mangée.
in this case, the past participle has to agree in gender and number to the direct object
since « la pomme » is feminine and singular, the past participle becomes « mangé__e__ »
Oh yeah, we learned about indirect and direct pronouns.
in other words, when you have the direct object placed before the verb, the past participle agrees to that object
nice
keep in mind that this happens only to direct objects
alright, ty!!!