Agreement with etre verbs

Question

To the question 'You had shaved completely that morning' I was marked wrong for 'Tu t'étais rasée ....' which is surely correct rather than your answer 'Tu t'étais rasé ....' Please explain.

Accepted Answer

Hi John,
I think it is simply a matter of who would normally shave in the morning?
Would it be a female? Would it be a male?
The answer that you are querying "Tu t'étais rasé"  suggests a male. Why? The past particle rasé concords with the direct object pronoun which is the reflexive pronoun te (t') in this case and it is placed before the verb.
If your answer had been correct then it would have implied a female direct object who had shaved.
Hope this clears things up for you.
Jim

Answer

Hi John,Just to add to Jim’s excellent answer it looks as both were accepted anyway.

Answer

Hi Cécile,Of course, I should have mentioned that a female could possibly have shaved any time of the day but probably not the face!!!Bonne Journée,Jim