Verbes avec être comme auxiliaire

French Verbs with Être as the Auxiliary

In compound tenses, such as Le Passé Composé, Le Plus-que-Parfait, Le Futur Antérieur and Le Conditionnel Passé, verbs are conjugated with an auxiliary verb: avoir or être.

While most verbs use ''avoir'', some verbs require ''être''.

 
1. All pronominal verbs

Pronominal (including reflexive) verbs require être in all compound tenses. This auxiliary is usually located between the reflexive pronoun (me/te/se/nous/vous/se) and the past participle.

Je me suis levé(e). - I got up.

Elle s'était maquillée. - She had put on some make-up.

 
2. Other verbs

About 2 dozen verbs, sometimes called DR & MRS P VANDERTRAMP verbs or Maison d'être verbs are mostly verbs expressing movements of some kind. Except of course for rester, which means "to stay"!

The past participles of verbs conjugated with être always agree in gender and number with the subject of this verb.

Here is the complete list:

aller to go
arriver to arrive
demeurer to remain
descendre to go down / to get off
devenir to become
entrer to come in
monter to go up / to get on
mourir to die
naître to be born
partir to leave
passer to pass
rentrer to come back in / to come home
rester to stay
retourner to go back
revenir to come back
sortir to go out
tomber to fall
venir to come

Note that some of these verbs can be conjugated with avoir, with a different meaning.

Clever stuff happening!