lazwarz

[cloud merlin]

Please be patient

Our volunteers look into many questions every day; sometimes it takes them a little while to answer.

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[mortal pine]

Most verbs use avoir as their auxiliary. However, all reflexive verbs will use être as well as a set of verbs that can be remembered with the mnemonic device DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP

One sec while I find that list

Most verbs derived from those also use être, but there are exceptions (like convenir). Some can also use either auxiliary based on meaning/usage

[astral vale]

What would a sentence with être look like

And one with avoir

I asked ai and it said she went to the market is atte and aller is the être

Is to be going the être

To be

And then he ate an apple

Manger to eat is avoir

Is that to have eaten

The avoir

[mortal pine]

J'ai mangé une pomme
Je suis allé acheter une pomme

for example

[astral vale]

To to have ate the avoir

And to be going to être

Omg I think I finally understand

It’s so confusing at first

Is that it

[mortal pine]

uh, I don't think I'm following actually

I ate an apple -> J'ai mangé une pomme
I went to buy an apple -> Je suis allé acheter une pomme

[past sparrow]

"I ate" and "I went"

"I have eaten*" is a different tense in English that also happens to be translated to passé composé, which would then be "I have gone" for the second sentence

"I am going" is progressive present, which is translated to just the present in french => "Je vais"

[astral vale]

Yeah

[past sparrow]

So basically:

présent
Je mange => I eat, I am eating
Je vais => I go, I am going

passé composé
J'ai mangé => I ate, I have eaten
Je suis allé => I went, I have gone

[astral vale]

Ohh

Ai probs got confused

Can u use être verbs and avoir in other tenses or is it only passé composé

[mortal pine]

AI is not great for learning grammar. It can say a lot of really wrong things that'll lead you astray

[astral vale]

Can u give me an example of an être verb in a sentence then one with avoir

[past sparrow]

Avoir/être here are called auxiliary verbs and appear in other tenses

[astral vale]

Yeah 😭😭

[astral vale]

Kk

Can u give me an example in the passé composé

[mortal pine]

i did #1269382366669832323 message

[astral vale]

Which ones être

And which is avoir

[mortal pine]

je suis -> être
j'ai -> avoir

You should probably spend more time on the present tense before moving onto passé composé if you're not recognizing the auxiliaries

[astral vale]

I’ve done present tense but I don’t know what être is because i know it means to be

But idk how it’s in a sentence

I’ve learnt regular verbs but not memorised the irregular yet

Ohh

[mortal pine]

You'll need to know the present conjugations of avoir and être thoroughly for passé composé

[astral vale]

I thought the auxiliary was the verb

[astral vale]

Can u give me an example of the conjunctions do u mean that with a verb

Oh do y mean like

Je suis allé and je vais aller

[mortal pine]

The passé composé combines the conjugation of the auxiliary verb with the past participle of another verb.

Je suis allé
(pronoun) (conjugated auxiliary) (past participle of aller)

[astral vale]

Ohh right

Like I have eaten

Or like j’ai mangé but in other context

[mortal pine]

Same thing, yep, except that sentence uses avoir as the auxiliary

[astral vale]

Ohh

And avoir is the j’ai

Omg aye so get it

I get it

Yes

Thank you so much ur my hero and im not even exaggerating

Thank you omg

My savoir 😭😭

Saviour

[mortal pine]

Glad I could help!

[astral vale]

Thank you

You know some verbs take either

When one has to take avoir does it have to start with j’ai

And être has to start with je suis

[mortal pine]

If it's the first person singular, yes

[astral vale]

Or can it be like I used to be for other tenses

Kk

When it can use either what would it be like

[mortal pine]

What do you mean?

[astral vale]

You know how some verbs take either or être

What would they start with

Or talk about

How do u know which it would take

Is it the context

Or like tense or something

[mortal pine]

So, you're getting a bit ahead of yourself here. For now you really should spend more time on the present tense and the common irregular verbs, especially avoir and être.

But typically the auxiliary changes based on whether the verb is used transitively or not, and this can also change the entire meaning of the sentence.

Je suis passé par la banque hier -> I passed by (went by) the bank yesterday
J'ai passé le sel -> I passed (gave) the salt

[astral vale]

What does trasitively mean

[mortal pine]

with a direct object

[astral vale]

What like a chair

[brisk wolf]

Transitive = the verb takes an object.
Intransitive = the verb never does.

[astral vale]

What’s an object

Like a place

[mortal pine]

The thing the verb acts on

[brisk wolf]

The grammatical object is the recipient of an action expressed by a verb.

[astral vale]

What’s a grammatical object 😭

Can you give an example

Like if I said im walking to school

What’s the object

Is it school

Or im

[brisk wolf]

"I write a letter."
Here, "a letter" is the object of the verb write. I make an action of writing on the letter.

[astral vale]

Ohh

What if I said something without an object

Like in walking to school

If it has an object is avoir the verb

Or être

[brisk wolf]

Walk is intransitive.
In French, marcher is intransitive but uses avoir.

[astral vale]

If it is intransitive would it always use avoir

And if it’s transitive would it always use être

[brisk wolf]

Most of verbs, whether they are transitive or not, use avoir.

The choice of avoir or être doesn't depend on this trait.

Though the être verbs in the list given here are intransitive.

[astral vale]

Is it dependent on if u say I have or not

Wait how is avoir in in I write a letter

Doesn’t it mean I have

Ohh is it because it starts with J’

And not je

[brisk wolf]

The problem with English is it only uses have as the auxiliary when in French, avoir and être are used.

[astral vale]

Yeah

I need to not refer to English

That’s confusing me

Thank you

[astral vale]

I thought it was if it’s transitive or not

[astral vale]

But doesn’t the auxiliary change if it’s transitive

[astral vale]

It says on this french site that two dozen intransitive french verbs require être

[brisk wolf]

Correct, it's only a small percentage of intransitive verbs that use être. Conversely, courir, marcher, dormir, etc. are intransitive yet they use avoir.

Yes, the verbs in the list are intransitive but even that doesn't explain why these particular verbs received être instead of avoir.

You just memorize them by heart.

[astral vale]

Ohh

Does the auxiliary always change based on the verb and if it’s transitive

[brisk wolf]

Some verbs use both avoir and être. If they express the idea of movement, they use être. Otherwise, if they act on something (they are transitive), they use avoir.

Not all être verbs have that capability.

[astral vale]

What is it dependent on is it just if it says I am or I have

Like je suis or j’ai nagé

[mortal pine]

There's no discernable reason as to why it's avoir or être. You just have to memorize which verbs take être, and the others take avoir

[astral vale]

ohh

omg ok yes

thanks

[past sparrow]

If there's "I am" in English it's not past tense, as well, for clarification