When to use avoir vs être

Mark D.C1Kwiziq community member

When to use avoir vs être

The rules you give are quite useful. Thank you.

One thing that I would add is that I can remember easier if I think in terms of who is actually entering. If the Subject is entering, then we use être, but if the "entering" is being done by someone/something other than the Subject, then we use avoir.

 

Mes filles sont entrées en CP cette année. -> Mes filles

 

Nous avons entré les informations dans le programme. -> les informations

 

This works in other cases where we need to decide between avoir and être.  (or where the sentence seems to indicate that the action is not done by the sentence subject)

Asked 6 months ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Mark,

Don't confuse "to enter" (EN) with "entrer" (FR):

- are you entering something? -> meaning "going somewhere / going in"

- are you entering something in something else? -> meaning "putting something in / inputting something"

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Maarten K.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Mark D.C1Kwiziq community member

Ah, indeed. It doesn't work in the case of demeurer.

I keep tring some other verbs with this avoir/être feature and it seems to be working well for me, but I had forgotten about demeurer.

I guess demeurer is different since the preposition rule also doesn't apply. 

Thanks

When to use avoir vs être

The rules you give are quite useful. Thank you.

One thing that I would add is that I can remember easier if I think in terms of who is actually entering. If the Subject is entering, then we use être, but if the "entering" is being done by someone/something other than the Subject, then we use avoir.

 

Mes filles sont entrées en CP cette année. -> Mes filles

 

Nous avons entré les informations dans le programme. -> les informations

 

This works in other cases where we need to decide between avoir and être.  (or where the sentence seems to indicate that the action is not done by the sentence subject)

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