Have you recently learned a great French verb tense called "passé composé" ? This is a really important milestone in your French learning process as you will absolutely need this verb tense to express yourself in the past.

While learning or reviewing "le passé composé", you will inevitably be struggling when having to choose between the helping verbs avoir and être. It is a good idea to spend a bit of time on this topic as the same struggle will come back when you will start learning more complex verb tenses such as "plus-que-parfait", "conditionnel passé" et "subjonctif passé".

So, let's roll up our sleeves and delve into this Mission Possible!

Here are 5 Great Tips To Help You Choose Between "Auxiliaires Avoir & Être"!

1. Auxiliaire, j'ai besoin d'aide!

An auxiliary verb, or helping verb, is a conjugated verb used in front of another verb in compound tenses in order to indicate the mood and tense of the verb.

In French, the auxiliary verb is either avoir or être. All French verbs are classified by which auxiliary verb they take, and they use the same auxiliary verb in all compound tenses. Most French verbs use avoir, fewer use être.

2. Avoir

The French irregular verb avoir is the most frequently used verbs of all French verbs.

2. Être

The French irregular verb être is the second most frequently used verbs of all French verbs.

**Attention!** "Être" is conjugated with the helping verb "avoir" in "passé composé"!

The helping verb "être" is usually used with verbs representing movement (aller, venir), transformation (devenir) or absence of all of these (rester).

3. Dr. & Mrs. Van Der Tramp

Here is "un petit truc mnémotechnique" to help you remember which verbs are always paired with auxiliary "être" in French:

Devenir
Revenir
&
Monter
Rester
Sortir

Venir
Aller
Naître

Descendre
Entrer
Rentrer

Tomber
Retourner
Arriver
Mourir
Partir

4. Intransitive Verbs

One very important thing to remember is that verbs only use être when they are intransitive (i.e, they do not have a direct object):

• Je suis passé à huit heures (I came by around 8 PM)  
  vs
  J'ai passé la maison (I stopped by the house, direct object = la maison).
• Je suis monté avant lui (I went upstairs before him)
  vs
  J'ai monté la valise (I brought the suitcase upstairds, direct object = la valise).

5. Les recettes de grammaire de Marine

I invite you to watch Prêt à Parler's Super Prof Marine further explain how to choose between "avoir & être au passé composé" in her special grammar recipes!

I hope you are now even more confident to express yourself in the past in French using "les auxiliaires avoir et être"!