MRS P VANDERTRAMP verbs

Question

What is the reference to the "MRS P VANDERTRAMP verbs" in the sentence below?

Just as with Passé composé, all the so-called MRS P VANDERTRAMP verbs (mostly movement verbs) conjugate withêtre in Plus-que-parfait.

Accepted Answer

Hi Norman,
MRS  VANDERTRAMP is something I learned about when my children were learning French at an English school.
It is a mnemonic, an easy (?) way of remembering the few verbs ( also known as verbs of movements) which take the auxiliary être.
It is often known as DR ( adding - devenir and revenir) & MRS VANDERTRAMP.
Each letter represents the first initial of one of those verbs :

monter, rentrer, sortir,
venir, arriver, naître, descendre, entrer, retourner, tomber, rester, aller, mourir, partir

But you are correct in saying that what is true for the passé composé is also true for the plus-que-parfait.
Hope this helps!

Answer

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/auxiliary-verbs/

It is one of the (many) ways of remembering which verbs use être as auxiliary in compound tenses, of which le plus-que-parfait is one. (Adding the extra 'P' is to cover the need to remember passer - in its 'movement' sense to pass (by)/to go past)

Answer

what about revenir, repasser etc?

Answer

what about revenir, repasser etc?

Answer

Hi Chris, 
Revenir is a derivative of venir but in fact, all verbs of 'retour' take être.
As for passer and repasser , they will take être when they means to pass by/ to pop in and again with the prefix 're' but when they are transitive ( they have an object) they will take 'avoir'.
Hope this helps!

Answer

Prefer to use the house analogy.. arrivage.. leave etc plus to be born and die.. mnemonics have their place but just prefer an image that you don't need to remember the words by rote.