In this sentence "Nous sommes décidés" is passé composé right?
If so, why do we use this combination of être and décider?
I don't understand how we can just use être and passé composé like this.
Look at these examples:
Ils aiment leurs parents.
They love their parents.
Nous promenons notre chien.
We walk our dog.
Vous faites vos devoirs.
You do your homework.
Pouvez-vous apporter vos chaussures, s'il-vous-plaît?
Can you bring your shoes please?
Notice that to express our, your and their, you use the possessive adjectives notre/nos, votre/vos, leur/leurs, as following:
Singular | Plural | |
our | notre |
nos |
your (vous) | votre |
vos |
their | leur |
leurs |
Note the similarity of the forms.
IMPORTANT: The first letter is determined by the owner (n =our; v =your, l =their) etc. but the rest of the adjective is related to the number of the thing that is possessed.
Mon, ma, mes; ton, ta, tes; son, sa, ses = my; your; his / her (possessive adjectives)
and also the more advanced
Common mistakes with mon/ma/mes, ton/ta/tes and son/sa/ses (possessive adjectives)
Nous promenons notre chien.
We walk our dog.
Pouvez-vous apporter vos chaussures, s'il-vous-plaît?
Can you bring your shoes please?
Vous faites vos devoirs.
You do your homework.
Vive le vent, vive le vent,
Vive le vent d'hiver,
Qui rapporte aux vieux enfants,
Leurs souvenirs d'hier, oh !
Long live the wind, long live the wind,
Long live the winter wind,
Which brings to old kids,
Their memories of yesterday, oh!
Nous avons nos passeports.
We have our passports.
Ils aiment leurs parents.
They love their parents.
Vous avez passé votre examen.
You took your exam.
In this sentence "Nous sommes décidés" is passé composé right?
If so, why do we use this combination of être and décider?
I don't understand how we can just use être and passé composé like this.
It is the present tense, but it's not the passive voice - in this case décidés is an adjective, it means "determined".
Yes, Alan is correct: of course it isn't passive voice (I edited my response accordingly.)
In this sentence "Nous sommes décidés" is passé composé right?
If so, why do we use this combination of être and décider?
I don't understand how we can just use être and passé composé like this.
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Hi Helen,
Normally a collective noun is treated as singular in grammatical terms so you will say -
La police arrive avec ses renforts .
L'équipe a partagé son expérience avec nous.
La famille a dû attendre trois heures avant d'embarquer.
Hope this helps!
Don't have an account yet? Join today
"Vous avez passé votre examen" according to google translate (and my intiution) means Vous avez passé votre examen.
But here it says: "You took your exam".
Yes. Strictly speaking,
Vous avez passé votre examen means you took the exam, and
Vous avez eu votre examen is you passed it.
In practice, and according to two native speakers I am in touch with, that distinction is lost in practice.
I am certain from several French teachers that "passer" is used to mean taking a test. I am told to pass a test in the English sense of pass is "reussir," to succeed. So the French equivalent of "You passed your test" is "Tu as reussi ton examen." (I can't type the accents on the e in reussir).
"Vous avez passé votre examen" according to google translate (and my intiution) means Vous avez passé votre examen.
But here it says: "You took your exam".
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Test your French to the CEFR standard
Find your French level >>