English past participles never change: she has left, they have left. In French, a participle used with the auxiliary être takes the gender and number of its subject, so elle est partie needs an extra e that you cannot hear.

The rule itself is short. The hard part is knowing when être is the auxiliary, and spotting the subject when it is not where you expect it.

1. Which verbs make their past participle with être

Most verbs build the passé composé with avoir. A small group uses être, mainly verbs of movement or change of state:

• aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre;
• naître, mourir, rester, tomber, devenir, revenir, rentrer, retourner.

Être is also the auxiliary of the passive voice (la lettre est écrite) and of reflexive verbs (elle s'est levée), which follow a different agreement rule covered below. The rule page on past participle agreement with être has the full list with exercises.

2. Past participle agreement with the subject

Find the subject, then add e for feminine and s for plural.

Subject	Ending	Example
masculine singular	nothing	Le train est parti.
feminine singular	-e	Ma sœur est partie.
masculine plural	-s	Les invités sont partis.
feminine plural	-es	Les filles sont parties.
mixed group	-s	Paul et Léa sont partis.

A mixed group takes the masculine plural, even with a single man in it.

3. Do not trust your ear

Parti, partie, partis and parties all sound the same, so listening will not tell you which one to write. Only a few participles change sound in the feminine, such as mort and morte. For the rest, the ending is a written decision, which is why the mistake survives in people who speak French well.

A quick check before you write: say the sentence with a feminine subject in your head, then look at the letters, not the sound.

4. On and polite vous

These two pronouns look singular or plural on the surface but point to real people, and the participle follows the people.

• on meaning nous: the verb stays singular, but agreement with the group is accepted and very common: Marie et moi, on est parties tôt.
• vous addressed to one person: the verb is plural, the participle is singular: Madame, vous êtes arrivée en avance.

When on is vague (people in general), keep the masculine singular: on est vite arrivé au bout.

5. Verbs that switch to avoir

Sortir, monter, descendre, rentrer, retourner and passer take être on their own, but avoir when they have a direct object. The agreement rule switches with the auxiliary:

• Elle est sortie. / Elle a sorti le chien.
• Ils sont montés. / Ils ont monté les valises.

With avoir, the participle no longer agrees with the subject. It agrees only with a direct object placed before the verb, as explained in the guide to past participle agreement with avoir.

6. Reflexive verbs are a separate case

Reflexive verbs always use être, which makes learners apply the subject rule to them. It often works (elle s'est levée), but not always: ils se sont parlé stays unchanged, because se means to each other there, an indirect object. Treat them with their own rule, set out in the page on pronominal verbs and agreement.

7. Past participle agreement with être: sentences learners get wrong

Sentence	Right form	Why
Elles ont … contentes.	été	été never changes
Après être …, elle a dormi.	arrivée	the subject of the infinitive is elle
Au loin sont … les maisons.	apparues	the subject comes after the verb
Madame, vous êtes …	venue	polite vous, one woman
Elle a … la poubelle.	sorti	avoir, object after the verb

Remember it in one line

With être, find the real subject and copy its gender and number onto the participle, even behind on, polite vous or an inverted sentence. The habit only settles when you write these endings in full sentences: Apostrophe· reads you French dictations and marks each missing ending word by word.

Frequently asked questions

Which French verbs take être in the passé composé?

Mainly verbs of movement or change of state, such as aller, venir, partir, arriver, naître, mourir, rester and tomber, plus all reflexive verbs. Everything else takes avoir.

Why does elle est partie end in e?

With être, the past participle agrees with the subject. Elle is feminine singular, so the participle takes an e, even though you cannot hear it.

Do I add an s with polite vous?

Not when you speak to one person: vous êtes parti, vous êtes partie. Add the s only when vous means several people.

Does été ever agree?

No. Été is always used with avoir, so it never changes: elles ont été contentes. The adjective after it agrees.

Is it on est partis or on est parti?

When on means nous, agreement with the group is accepted and common: on est partis. When on means people in general, write parti.

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