very confused about agreement

D. A.C1Kwiziq community member

very confused about agreement

Then why is "nous nous sommes brossé" correct?  shouldn't it be "brosses"????

Asked 2 years ago
CélineNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Chris,

Here is another link to a previous question where Cécile explains in more details the reason why verbs such as 'se brosser [qqch]' don't always agree in numbers and gender with the subject when 'être' is the auxiliary: agreement of reflexive verbs

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Chris,

I can't locate the particular example that you quote   "Why is nous nous sommes brossé" correct?"

I don't see it as being correct as written above. What I would see as correct is if it were written as "Nous nous sommes brossés" but that is not your proposal.

So I think there is some confusion here   -- Are you expecting "Nous nous sommes brosses" ?

If so then this is incorrect and should be as I have offered above ie.  "Nous nous sommes brossés"

Incidentally, I assume that "nous" is not all female gender otherwise we would need the past participle to be written "brossées"

Hope this helps.

Jim

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Can you give the full sentence/example you are referring to? “nous nous sommes brossé .  . “ is incomplete, and the direct object of ‘se brosser’ (see external link) matters here. This is an “advanced” grammar point and is not covered or referred to in the lesson (which is A2 level). However it has been addressed by Cécile in previous answers https://progress.lawlessfrench.com/questions/view/wrong-answer-nous-sommes-brosse   

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/agreement-with-pronominal-verbs/.  (The lesson should have a minor modification  - at least with a brief reference to these exceptions with pronominal verbs, as currently it categorically states misleadingly ‘always with the subject’ for agreement, and makes no mention of this point)

D. A. asked:View original

very confused about agreement

Then why is "nous nous sommes brossé" correct?  shouldn't it be "brosses"????

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