My husband, who is French, is adamant that 'avoir' is not used with apparu. Is it that this is a regional usage (eg Quebec v France or even South of France v Paris where he's from)? Or is it just uncommon? Otherwise, like many a native speaker, he could simply be mistaken!
Is the 'avoir'' auxiliary with 'apparu' commonly used throughout France?
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Karen G.Kwiziq community member
Is the 'avoir'' auxiliary with 'apparu' commonly used throughout France?
This question relates to:French lesson "Conjugate apparaître in the compound past in French (Le Passé Composé)"
Asked 1 year ago
Both, avoir and être, are OK and in use for the verb apparaître. There's a slight distinction in meaning, which was mentioned somewhere in a previous discussion: with avoir it is the process of appearing and with être the state of having appeared.
Bonjour Karen,
Chris is correct! Both "avoir" and "être" are used with "apparaître" although there is a slight difference as mentioned in Chris's answer. Also, there is a little note in the lesson which says: "In terms of usage, être is used more often than avoir in colloquial speech."
As a French native speaker, with "apparaître", I will use "être" most of the time.
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !
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