Auxiliary Verbs in French
In French, there are two auxiliary verbs: avoir(to have) and être(to be). They're essential for forming all compound tenses as well as the passive voice. When used as auxiliaries, avoir and être are always combined with a past participle.
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In this article, we'll explore what auxiliary verbs are, how they differ from main verbs, how they are used across compound tenses, and how être is used to form the passive voice. C'est parti !(Let's go!)
Questions This Article Answers
What are auxiliary verbs in French?
What's the difference between auxiliary verbs and main verbs?
How are auxiliary verbs used in compound tenses?
How is the auxiliary verb être used in the passive voice?
What's the difference between avoir and être as auxiliaries?
What are the agreement rules with avoir and être in compound tenses?
Main Verbs vs. Auxiliary Verbs in French
What's the difference between main verbs and auxiliary verbs?
Main verbs carry meaning. For example, chanter(to sing) means "to produce musical sounds using one's voice." The main verb avoir(to have) generally means "to possess something," while the main verb être(to be) generally means "to exist" or "to have certain characteristics."
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Auxiliary verbs, on the other hand, do not have meaning of their own. Instead, they're used to build a certain grammatical construction and to support the main verb. An auxiliary verb helps express the main verb's tense, mood, aspect, or voice.
In French, there are only two auxiliary verbs:
Auxiliary verbs aren't used alone—they're always followed by a past participle to form compound tenses and passive voice constructions. Below are examples where avoir and être are used as auxiliary verbs to form compound tenses.
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Avoir and Être: Main Verbs or Auxiliary Verbs?
Avoir and être can be used either as main verbs or auxiliary verbs. It depends on the sentence! When used on their own, they're main verbs. When used in combination with a past participle, they're auxiliary verbs.
Need a little refresher on how to conjugate the irregular auxiliary verbs être and avoir? Check out our conjugation tool!
Auxiliary Verbs Used in Compound Tenses
As mentioned above, auxiliary verbs are used to form compound tenses or the passive voice in French. Let's start by reviewing how they're used to form compound tenses. We'll discuss the passive voice later in this article.
What Are the Compound Tenses in French?
All compound tenses require an auxiliary verb (either avoir or être). Let's see what all the compound tenses look like in French!
French Compound Tenses
In the table above, we gave you an example with avoir and an example with être for each compound tense. Now, you might wonder: how do I know which auxiliary verb to use? Great question! You'll find the answer in the next section.
How to Choose Between Avoir and Être in Compound Tenses
The auxiliary verb être is used in compound tenses when the main verb is
- one of the 17 "Dr. and Mrs. Vandertrampp" intransitive verbs
- a pronominal verb
The auxiliary verb être is used with a specific set of intransitive verbs. Thankfully, there are only 17 of them! With some practice, you'll be able to remember which ones they are. A good way to memorize them is to learn the acronym Dr. and Mrs. Vandertrampp, where each letter stands for one of these 17 intransitive verbs!
Dr. and Mrs. Vandertrampp Verbs
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The auxiliary verb être is also used with all pronominal verbs! You don't have to memorize pronominal verbs because you can immediately tell whether a verb is pronominal or not, just by looking at it. A verb is pronominal if it's accompanied by a reflexive pronoun. In the infinitive form, the reflexive pronoun is se. A verb like se coucher(to go to bed), for example, is a pronominal verb. Here's what it can look like in a sentence: Je me suis couché tard.(I went to bed late.)
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The auxiliary verb avoir is used in compound tenses in all other cases, with the small caveat described in the red box below!
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Do you want to know more about pronominal verbs? Check out this article!
Some Dr. & Mrs. Vandertrampp Verbs Take Avoir When Used Transitively
A few of the intransitive verbs from the Dr. & Mrs. Vandertrampp list take avoir (instead of être) if used transitively! For example, a verb like passer(to pass by or to pass) can be used intransitively and transitively:
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In the first example, passer is used intransitively: the subject is undergoing the movement described by the verb, and there is no direct object.
In the second example, passer is used transitively: the direct object, le sel(the salt), is undergoing the movement described by the verb.
Here's a recap of when to use avoir vs. être in compound tenses!
| Type of Verb | ||
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| Dr. & Mrs. Vandertrampp Intransitive Verb | ||
| Dr. & Mrs. Vandertrampp Verb Used Transitively | ||
| Pronominal Verb | ||
| All Other Verbs |
Past Participle Agreement with Compound Tenses
In all compound tenses, the past participle either agrees or doesn't agree in gender and number, depending on a couple of different things. When it agrees in gender and number, it might agree with either the subject or the direct object of the sentence. This section covers the following three scenarios:
- The past participle does not agree with anything.
- The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject.
- The past participle agrees in gender and number with the direct object.
The agreement rules below apply to all compound tenses in the exact same way.
1. The Past Participle Does Not Agree with Anything
The past participle does not agree with anything when:
- the auxiliary verb is avoir, and there's no direct object placed anywhere before the auxiliary verb
- the auxiliary verb is être, and the reflexive pronoun (if the main verb is a pronominal verb) is an indirect object
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In the second example, there's no agreement on téléphoné because the French verb téléphoner(to call on the phone) takes an indirect object, as in Je téléphone à mon ami.(I call my friend.) In the pronominal form, the reflexive pronoun represents that indirect object—les élèves se sont téléphoné l’un à l’autre. Since the past participle only agrees with direct objects in this case, no agreement is required.
2. The Past Participle Agrees in Gender and Number with the Subject
The past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject when:
- the auxiliary verb is être, and the main verb is one of the 17 Dr. & Mrs. Vandertrampp intransitive verbs
- the auxiliary verb is être, and the reflexive pronoun (if the main verb is a pronominal verb) is a direct object
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In the second example, there's agreement on prises (with the addition of an -es) because the French verb prendre(to take) is transitive and takes a direct object, as in Je prends mon ami en photo.(I take a picture of my friend.) In the pronominal form, the reflexive pronoun represents that direct object—les filles se sont prises en photo l’une l’autre.
3. The Past Participle Agrees in Gender and Number with the Direct Object
The past participle agrees in gender and number with the direct object when:
- the auxiliary verb is avoir, and a direct object is placed somewhere before the auxiliary verb
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Here's a recap of when the past participle agrees in compound tenses!
| Scenario | |
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| Avoir + No Direct Object Before the Auxiliary | |
| Avoir + Direct Object Before the Auxiliary | |
| Être + No Reflexive Pronoun | |
| Être + Reflexive Pronoun Is a Direct Object | |
| Être + Reflexive Pronoun Is an Indirect Object |
Don't forget that in the second scenario, the past participle agrees in gender and number with the direct object, while in the third and fourth scenarios, it agrees with the subject.
Need some practice?
Use the Conjugation Drill to conjugate French verbs in all compound tenses with auxiliary verbs être and avoir.
The Auxiliary Verb Être in Passive Voice Constructions
The auxiliary verb être is also essential for forming the passive voice in French. In a passive voice construction, the subject of the sentence undergoes the action rather than performing it. In other words, the focus shifts from the subject being the doer (the agent) of the action to the receiver of the action.
Forming the Passive Voice in French
To form the passive voice, French uses the auxiliary verb être (to be) followed by the past participle of the main verb, just like in English! This structure is sometimes followed by the preposition par(by) or, more rarely, de(of, from) to indicate who performs the action.
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As you can see in the sentences above, the auxiliary verb être carries the tense of the sentence, while the past participle carries the meaning.
Tenses in the Passive Voice
Because être is the auxiliary verb used in all passive voice constructions, the tense of a passive sentence is determined by the tense of être. This means you can form passive constructions in any tense—simple or compound—by conjugating être accordingly. Below are a few examples. It is not an exhaustive list of the tenses to which the passive voice can apply. The passive voice can apply to any tense!
Examples of Passive Voice Constructions Across Tenses
In every sentence above, the tense on the main verb in the active voice is transferred to the auxiliary verb être to form the passive voice.
| Active Voice | Auxiliary for Passive Voice |
|---|---|
| prépare = present | present of être → est |
| préparait = imparfait | imparfait of être → était |
| a préparé = compound past | compound past of être → a été |
| préparera = future | future of être → sera |
| préparerait = present conditional | present conditional of être → serait |
Once you've transferred the tense from the main verb in the active voice to the auxiliary être in the passive voice, you can add the past participle of the main verb after être to complete your passive voice construction.
- est préparé
- était préparé
- a été préparé
- sera préparé
- serait préparé
No matter the tense or the main verb, être remains the auxiliary, and the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject of the passive sentence.
Past Participle Agreement in the Passive Voice
In passive voice constructions, the past participle always agrees in gender and number with the subject of the verb, because that subject is the receiver of the action.
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When to Use the Passive Voice
The passive voice is often used when:
- The agent (doer of the action) is unknown, unimportant, or obvious.
- You want to emphasize the action itself or the receiver of the action rather than the person performing it.
- You're writing in formal or academic contexts, where the passive voice sounds more neutral or objective.
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Learn more about French verbs in these articles!
