Avoir vs Être in French: The Verbs That Take Être
By Michael McGettrickUpdated 12 October 2026
Most French verbs make the with . About seventeen verbs of movement and change, and every reflexive verb, take instead, and then the participle agrees with the subject:
| Which verbs | Auxiliary | Example |
|---|---|---|
| almost all | . | |
| the list | . | |
| every reflexive | . | |
| + a woman | agreement | . |
Quick check
Now use it: three quick questions on the chart above. The full practice is further down.
Pick the right one
0/3Choose the participle that agrees.
Elle est à Paris. (aller)
Ils sont tard. (arriver)
Elles sont hier. (partir)
.- I ate..- I went to the market.
Picking the wrong one is the most audible beginner error in the past tense. is simply wrong, and means something like "I am eaten".
The default is avoir
If a verb is not on the list and is not reflexive, it takes . That covers thousands of verbs, so treat as the assumption:
.- I ate.?- Did you see the film?.- We have finished..- They worked.
Movement alone does not make a verb an verb. (to walk) and (to run) take : . (I walked.)
The être verbs
A short, closed list takes . Most come in pairs of opposites: going and coming, in and out, up and down, born and dying.
| Pair | English | Participles |
|---|---|---|
| / | go / come | / |
| / | arrive / leave | / |
| / | go in / go out | / |
| / | go up / go down | / |
| / | be born / die | / |
| / | stay / fall | / |
| / | go home / go back | / |
| / | become / come back | / |
| go past | |
.- I arrived yesterday..- He fell..- We stayed at home.
The usual mnemonic is VANDERTRAMP, one letter per verb. The pattern underneath matters more: each verb says where the subject went or what it became, and nothing is done to anything.
Agreement with être
With , the past participle agrees with the subject, like an adjective: add -e for a woman, -s for a plural.
| Subject | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| he went | |
| she went | |
| they went | |
| they went (women) |
.- She arrived..- They left.France.- They were born in France.
and agree with whoever is speaking: a woman writes . A mixed group takes the masculine plural, . The extra letters are silent, so this is a rule for writing.
No agreement with avoir
With , the participle does not agree with the subject:
.- She ate. (nevera).- They finished. (never
The one exception is a direct object placed before the verb, usually a pronoun. Then the participle agrees with that object:
.- I saw her.
You will meet that rule properly with the object pronouns. For now: , no agreement.
Every reflexive verb takes être
Every reflexive verb takes , even when the plain verb takes :
| Verb | Plain verb, avoir | Reflexive, être |
|---|---|---|
| . | . |
| . | . |
.- I washed the car..- She got up early.
The reflexive verbs page has the agreement exceptions.
The verbs that take both
verbs switch to when they take a direct object, and the meaning shifts with it:
| Verb | être (no object) | avoir (+ object) |
|---|---|---|
| I went out | I took the bag out |
| I went up | I took the books up |
| I came home | I put the car away |
| I went past | I spent a week |
and work the same way: . (I went down.) against . (I brought the books down.)
The test is mechanical: is the verb acting on something? Then . Is it saying where the subject went? Then . And means I sat an exam, not I passed it.
Common mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
. | . | is on the list |
. | . | agrees with the subject |
. | . | does not agree |
. | . | is not on the list |
. | . | a direct object takes |
What to do next
- Learn the
verbs as the nine pairs in the table. - Write three sentences about a woman's day with
, and check every -e. - Then read the reflexive verbs page, the other group that takes
.