Proper auxillary

Question

The lesson says:  - We use the auxiliary verb être conjugated in a compound tense*, followed by the past participle of the verb.   However, all the examples use avoir, not etre.    I'm assuming etre is a mistake.

Cécile Janty-Davies · Accepted Answer

Hi Chip,
The passive uses the auxiliary 'être', just as in English -
est + PP = is 
a été + PP = has been
aura été + PP = will have been
aurait été + PP = would have been 
etc. 
The verb être, using avoir as an auxiliary ( just as avoir does ----> avoir eu )
I hope that helps!

Robin B · Answer

Doesn't help at all.  Why are we using "avoir" instead of "être"?

Cécile Janty-Davies · Answer

Hi Robin, 
Please take a look at the following lesson on forming a passive voice with simple tenses which uses the verb 'être'  -
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/how-to-form-the-passive-voice-with-simple-tenses-la-voix-passive
With compound tenses, you conjugate the verb 'être' which takes the auxiliary  'avoir'  as per lesson about its passé composé  -
https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/passe-compose-conversational-past-conjugation-of-etre
I think this might be the reason you think we are using 'avoir' but in fact, it is still the verb 'être' conjugated.
Hope this helps!

Isabelle Skaburskis · Answer

I had the same question about the use of Avoir in the lesson. Cécile's answer makes it clear though. It could be helpful to spell this out more clearly in the lesson. I appreciate that there is a note about conjugating être in the compound tense, but maybe just a few extra words drawing out that what this means is *avoir + été + participe passé* of the verb that you're using.
It gets confusing since it feels like there are two participe passés (été and the actual verb), and in some ways two auxiliaries (since we are used to thinking of être as an auxiliary in a compound tense, but actually its avoir which is the auxiliary).