Etre and Avoir in Perfect Past Tense

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Etre and Avoir in Perfect Past Tense

Postby MFW on Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:12 pm

With Perfect Past Tense is there a way to know which verb of Etre or Avoir is used with the second verb other than memorizing every verb?
Thank you,
MFW
MFW
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:51 pm

Re: Etre and Avoir in Perfect Past Tense

Postby Marie-Claire Rivière on Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:06 am

Hi there,
the best thing is to memorize them, but there are a few hints that are useful to know:

- all reflexive verbs go with être
- verbs that describe some kind of motion usually go with être, for example aller, venire etc.
- when a verb is used together with a direct object it uses avoir

I personally think that the more you are exposed to spoken French (Interactive Audio Course, TV, Radio etc) the more you will get a feel for what to use. Even if you don't pay attention to it in particular you will pick it up and get a feel for it. It will feel right to use avoir or être and you won't even know why.

I hope that helps.
Marie-Claire Rivière
 
Posts: 122
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:29 pm

Re: Etre and Avoir in Perfect Past Tense

Postby MFW on Tue Sep 01, 2009 4:32 pm

Yes that helps a great deal. Thank you Marie-Claire.
MFW
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:51 pm


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