Dr Mrs P. Vandertramp
#french #review
aka “The House of Être”
Whoever this is, her name abbreviates many French verbs that take être rather than avoir. Most of these words describe a change in location1.
Also notice that, when using le participe passé, these verbs have to agree with the subject (which makes them somewhat adjective-esque). Example:
Elle est allée chez lui.
The expansion:
Devenir
revenir
Monter
rester
sortir
Passer
Venir
aller
naître
descendre
entrer
retrer
tomber
retourner
arriver
mourir
partir
Example:
Il est allé au parc hier.
*il a allé au parc hier
Actually this is not a random list! They have something to do with semantic role. (See 80-180 Nature of Language)
References
words like courir involve change in location but are considered action words and should be used with avoir. ↩︎