Je les ai jois (s?) que Maman a cueillie(s?) How does it work here, where you have the fraises referenced by the les before the ai? Do both of these need to agree?
In most cases, the past participle when used with avoir as an auxiliary never changes:
Nous avons mangé. / Ils ont fini.
We ate. / They finished.
We ate. / They finished.
BUT when the direct object of the verb is placed before the verb, you the past participle has to agree with this object.
CASE of the object pronouns
Look at these examples:
Et la télé? - Il l'a regardée.
What about TV? - He watched it.
Et les bonbons? -Elle les a mangés.
What about the sweets? -She ate them.
Et les pompiers, tu les as vus ?
And the firemen, have you seen them?
Ces statues... Tu les as faites toi-même ?
These statues... Did you make them yourself?
When you replace the direct object by an object pronoun (le/la/l'/les), it moves before the verb and then the past participle has to agree.
J'ai regardé la fille. la fille is the object of ai regardé but it's behind, so no agreement.
I watched the girl.
-> Je l'ai regardée. l' replaces la fille -feminine/singular- and it's before the verb, so agreement.
I watched her.
I watched the girl.
-> Je l'ai regardée. l' replaces la fille -feminine/singular- and it's before the verb, so agreement.
I watched her.
CASE of the subordinate clause with que
Look at these examples:
J'aime les fraises que Maman a cueillies.
I love the strawberries Mum picked up.
J'ai rencontré les actrices que j'ai appréciées.
I met the actresses whom I have appreciated.
Les matchs que Marseille a perdus étaient truqués.
The games (that) Marseille lost were fixed.
Les photos que tu as prises sont toutes floues.
The pictures (that) you took are all blurry.
When you give extra details about a noun by including que... (that...), then this noun is the object of the second clause, and que being before the verb, the past participle agrees with this object
J'ai senti les fleurs --> Les fleurs que j'ai senties
--> que is repeating les fleurs and is the object of ai senti, so there is agreement)
Learn more about these related French grammar topics
Examples and resources
Ces statues... Tu les as faites toi-même ?
These statues... Did you make them yourself?
Et les pompiers, tu les as vus ?
And the firemen, have you seen them?
Les matchs que Marseille a perdus étaient truqués.
The games (that) Marseille lost were fixed.
Les photos que tu as prises sont toutes floues.
The pictures (that) you took are all blurry.
case of the object pronoun
Et la télé? - Il l'a regardée.
What about TV? - He watched it.
Et les bonbons? -Elle les a mangés.
What about the sweets? -She ate them.
case of the subordinate clause with 'que'
J'ai rencontré les actrices que j'ai appréciées.
I met the actresses whom I have appreciated.
J'aime les fraises que Maman a cueillies.
I love the strawberries Mum picked up.
Q&A Forum 13 questions, 27 answers
Subordinate clause with que
J'ai joui les fraises que Maman a cueillies. is correct since the que refers back to the fraises
Asked 1 week ago
Hi everyone,
I would be interested to know where this example came from as in the lesson the verb used 'aimer' is used in the context of strawberries.
The verb 'jouir' in French has sexual connotations and is best avoided to mean 'to enjoy'.
apprécier , trouver agréable, prendre plaisir are much safer verbs to use to mean to enjoy as in to relish.
Hope this helps!
It works the same way as in the first example: que refers to les fraises and therefore it is again cueillies.
I don't think your second example is allowed - que has to refer back to a noun, not a pronoun. You would have to replace the whole phrase "les fraises que Maman a cueillies" with a pronoun. Also, I think jouir has to be followed by de, so the first example should be "j'ai joui des fraises que ...." and the second example would then be "J'en ai joui." No agreement, because it's an indirect object.
Pat asked:View original
Subordinate clause with que
J'ai joui les fraises que Maman a cueillies. is correct since the que refers back to the fraises
Je les ai jois (s?) que Maman a cueillie(s?) How does it work here, where you have the fraises referenced by the les before the ai? Do both of these need to agree?
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Clearer explanation please
I believe it would be better to replace "behind" with "after" to be consistent with the use of "before" in the following paragraph :
J'ai regardé la fille. la fille is the object of ai regardé but it's behind, so no agreement.I watched the girl.
-> Je l'ai regardée. l' replaces la fille -feminine/singular- and it's before the verb, so agreement.
I watched her.
Asked 1 month ago
JaGGa asked:View original
Clearer explanation please
I believe it would be better to replace "behind" with "after" to be consistent with the use of "before" in the following paragraph :
J'ai regardé la fille. la fille is the object of ai regardé but it's behind, so no agreement.I watched the girl.
-> Je l'ai regardée. l' replaces la fille -feminine/singular- and it's before the verb, so agreement.
I watched her.
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Doubt in the concept
Bonjour Madame,
In the sentence "Hier,quelle robe as-tu portée pour la soirée?"
Why has the accord 'e' been added in the past participle 'porté'
Asked 9 months ago
Hi Varsha,
Because in the case of verbs which take 'avoir' in the passé composé, the past participle (porté) agrees with the object when it precedes the verb, 'robe' being feminine , an 'e' is added and it becomes 'portée'.
There are many examples in this lesson.
Hope this helps!
Ok, but this would seem to be a third case not explicitly handled in the lesson, right? The lesson introduces two cases:
CASE of the object pronouns
CASE of the subordinate clause with que
But this question seems to address a third case:
"CASE of object appearing before verb"
Or am I understanding wrong?
regards, Scott
CécileKwiziq language super star
Hi Scott,
If you re-read the lesson it is the first case of the object pronouns which is covered in this lesson:
J'ai regardé la fille ----- Je l'ai regardée
l' = la fille, which now precedes the verb so, regardée, has an extra 'e' to mark the feminine.
Hi Cécile,
thanks for the answer! I understand the concept, however, "robe" is not a pronoun but a noun, and the explanation you refer to is in the section "CASE of the object pronouns". So I would respectfully suggest that the lesson is worded not quite clearly. It might be better if the section were labeled "CASE of the object appearing before the verb" and would include examples of nouns as well as object pronouns appearing before the verb.
regards, Scott
Je suis d'accord avec vous, Scott. "La robe" n'est pas un pronom, mais un nom.
Donc, il y doigt être un autre cas, juste pour faire parfaitement claire que lors un COD (complément d'objet direct) précède le verbe, il ne fait rien s'il est un nom ou un pronom - la participe passé doigt s'accorder avec le COD.
Shrey asked:View original
Doubt in the concept
Bonjour Madame,
In the sentence "Hier,quelle robe as-tu portée pour la soirée?"
Why has the accord 'e' been added in the past participle 'porté'
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I am still confused with past participles agreement with the verbs. e.g. Les fleurs que j'ai senties.
Asked 10 months ago
ChrisCorrect answer
The rule is: if the COD comes before the participle, then you need to agree the participle.
Les fleurs -- COD (feminine, plural)
que -- relative pronoun, referring to "les fleurs"
je -- subject
ai -- auxiliary verb (form of avoir)
senties -- participle of sentir.
Since "que" comes before "senties", the participle needs to match feminine, plural.
Some may rightly argue that "que" is the COD. That doesn't change the result, though, because "les fleurs" determine ultimately the matching of the participle.
Monica asked:View original
I am still confused with past participles agreement with the verbs. e.g. Les fleurs que j'ai senties.
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Examples showing agreement without an object pronoun.
In the Weekend Challenge: 'My plan for the day of the exam' one of the translations required is 'that I'll have chosen the day before'.
The answes given are:
'que j'aurai choisiS la veille' OR 'que j'aurai sélectionnéS la veille'
There is no object pronoun in either of these answers, so why are the past participles 'choisi' and 'sélectionné' writen with an S added for agreement?
Thank you
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Stewart, it all hinges on the little pronoun "que". It is the stand in for the direct object in the relative clause. If it refers to a masculine noun in plural, you would need to have agreement between it and the participles.
I am not sure of the entire sentence, but when you check, you'll find that "que" refers to a masuline noun in plural.
-- Chris.
Stewart asked:View original
Examples showing agreement without an object pronoun.
In the Weekend Challenge: 'My plan for the day of the exam' one of the translations required is 'that I'll have chosen the day before'.
The answes given are:
'que j'aurai choisiS la veille' OR 'que j'aurai sélectionnéS la veille'
There is no object pronoun in either of these answers, so why are the past participles 'choisi' and 'sélectionné' writen with an S added for agreement?
Thank you
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Hi Alex,
It could only be 'Les as-tu vus?" or 'Est-ce que tu les as vus?
as an alternative.
Hope this helps!
Hi Akex,
"As-tu les vus" is an inverted question and means "Did you see them?"
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
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Aren't there some past participles that don't ever agree? In 501 verbs, some are listed with their pp showing possible agreement and some not.
Eg réveillé(e)(s) but réussi
Asked 1 year ago
Hi Ann,
In the case of true 'intransitive' verbs which by definition don't have an object , the past participle will not agree .
I am not sure that a list would help with this.
(N.B. some verbs can be both intransitive and transitive like servir, commencer ...)
Impersonal verbs as in expressions like 'il faut' or 'il y a' will always be become 'il a fallu' and 'il y a eu'.
There is a group of verbs however which is interesting like coûter, valoir, peser, mesuser, courir...which express measure, quantity and duration will be 'invariable' with 'avoir' even if the object precedes the verbs because the object is a quantity and answers to the question 'combien' and not 'quoi'.
e.g.
Les millions d'euros que cette réparation nous a coûté...
Les kilos que ce paquet a pesé...
Les heures que j'ai couru...
Hope this helps!
Hi Ann,
no, in fact, all past participles follow the rules explained in the lesson. I am not aware of some verbs which wouldn't follow it.
-- Chris (not a native speaker).
Ann asked:View original
Aren't there some past participles that don't ever agree? In 501 verbs, some are listed with their pp showing possible agreement and some not.
Eg réveillé(e)(s) but réussi
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Sorry, accidentally pressed enter :D Anyhow, I was wondering about a particular sentence : "Ils se sont lavé les mains." Does "lavé" not agree with "les mains" because the COI is before the COD? I didn't find a sentence like this in the lesson so I figured I'd ask. Merci! :)
There is no agreement when something other than the person(s) is having the action of the verb done to them. So, Ils se sont lavés has an agreement because ‘they are washing themselves' (therefore, the reflexive pronoun ‘themselves’ se is the direct object which requires an agreement) but Ils se sont lavé les mains has no agreement because 'They're washing their hands' (the hands are now the direct object, ‘themselves’ se has become the indirect object pronoun and doesn’t require an agreement).
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Vu et regarde
When does one use either or the other?
In the examples/quizzes - les fleurs uses voir( vues) and les films goes with regarder.
Asked 2 years ago
AurélieKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Meghna !
The difference between "voir" and "regarder" is the same as between "to see" and "to watch".
"Tu as regardé ce film ?" (Have you watched that film?)
"Tu as vu ce film ?" (Have you seen that film?)
"Tu as vu ces fleurs ?" (Have you seen these flowers?)
"J'ai regardé les fleurs de mon jardin." (I watched the flowers in my garden.)
I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !
Meghna asked:View original
Vu et regarde
When does one use either or the other?
In the examples/quizzes - les fleurs uses voir( vues) and les films goes with regarder.
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LauraKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Kevin,
At Kwiziq, kwizzes are created dynamically based on the lessons in your StudyPlan and/or Notebook. If the lesson isn't in your StudyPlan, you can add it to your Notebook and then click the kwiz button.
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LauraKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Sylvia,
If you're asking whether e.g., aller and allé are pronounced differently - they're not.
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LauraKwiziq language super star
Bonjour Susan,
No. You need the relative pronoun que when it's serving as the direct object, but qui when it's serving as the subject. All of the examples in this lesson happen to need the direct object.
See these lessons for more info:
Que = Whom, which, that (relative pronouns)%20">Relative pronoun que
Qui = Who, which, that (relative pronouns)">Relative pronoun qui
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