Direct Object Agreement

Question

In the first sentence "... dont je vous ai parlés ...", why does parlés have an S at the end? There is no agreement required here, is there?

Céline Pickard · Accepted Answer

Bonjour à tous,
Thank you all for your contribution to this query! Marlon is indeed correct! There should not be an -s here.
In French, the past participle with avoir only agrees with a preceding direct object. In the sentence "les rénovations et les travaux dont je vous ai parlé...":
- the pronoun "vous" stands for the indirect object (COI) of "parler à":
parler à qui ? -> parler à vous
- and the relative pronoun "dont" stands for the indirect object of "parler de":

parler de quoi ? -> parler des rénovations et des travaux

So, no agreement is required. The -s  in "parlés" is therefore incorrect and should be omitted. It has now been amended correctly
Merci à tous pour votre contribution !
Bonne journée !

Jim Jones · Answer

Bonjour Marlon,The verb parler takes a preposition either à or de depending on the context therefore "vous" will be an indirect object pronoun.That suggests that rénovations is the direct object of this sentence and is appearing in this case before the verb avoir and that grammar aspect requires the past participle of parler to agree with des rénovations (feminine plural).Bonne continuationJim

Anne Davies · Answer

With respect, Jim, I’m with Marlon here. Doesn’t parlé in this sentence have indirect objects, vous (=à) and les rénovations et les travaux (= de or rather, dont) but no direct object? The full sentence was :

Bonjour Monsieur Moreau, merci beaucoup d’être venu aujourd’hui pour discuter du devis concernant les rénovations et les travaux dont je vous ai parlés au téléphone.

The lesson on direct object agreement suggest it should be parlé: Special cases when the past participle agrees (in number & gender) when used with 'avoir' in the compound past in French (Le Passé Composé)

Sally Morrison · Answer

I agree with Anne and Marion. As far as I know, the direct object of the verb "parler" ought to answer the question "what?": "I spoke" what? "I spoke renovations" simply doesn't work, because one speaks words, not renovations.

Sally Morrison · Answer

Oops, now that I think about it, one can say "I talked renovations and work(s)", meaning "I talked about renovations and work", but in that case one would use que" instead of "dont": "que je vous ai parlés" rather than "dont je vous ai parlé".

Jim Jones · Answer

Salut S.M. I'm looking forward to a staff expert's input on this debate  --  it is an interesting point and maybe we will all benefit in due course.Bonne journéeJim

Marlon Pinero · Answer

Merci à tous !