Extra “e” with avoir & direct on. Pronoun??

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Extra “e” with avoir & direct on. Pronoun??

Hi, in the question where

“J'ai épousé Marianne” 

becomes

“Je l'ai épousée”. 


Why “épousée”? The aux. verb is avoir, and we’re using a direct object pronoun, so I thought it should be “épousé”. 

Asked 4 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Brian,

It is because of the rule of agreement of the preceding direct object pronoun and the past participle with avoir -

Je l'ai épousé  

l' = Marianne which is feminine -----> épousé takes an extra -e.

Je les ai mariés I married them 

Take a look at the following Kwiziq lesson for more examples:

https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/revision/grammar/special-cases-when-the-past-participle-agrees-in-number-and-gender-when-used-with-avoir-in-le-passe-compose-conversational-past

Hope this helps!

Jeff L.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I was confused by the same thing, and surprised there was no mention of this in the lesson. A quick sentence or two at the bottom with a reminder of this rule would be helpful.

Extra “e” with avoir & direct on. Pronoun??

Hi, in the question where

“J'ai épousé Marianne” 

becomes

“Je l'ai épousée”. 


Why “épousée”? The aux. verb is avoir, and we’re using a direct object pronoun, so I thought it should be “épousé”. 

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