Agreement of past participle

Vikki W.C1Kwiziq community member

Agreement of past participle

Et ce que j'ai découvert à l'intérieur m'a laissée - Laisser  is conjugated with avoir so why is the past participle agreeing. I guess it has something to do with l'intérieur being feminine but I can't work out why.
Asked 3 years ago
CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Vikki,

In this sentence, there is a direct object pronoun (m' -> Lydia / a woman -> feminine) placed before the verb 'laisser':

(Lydia speaks) 

Son discours m'a laissée sans voix = his speech left me speechless

Cela m'a laissée sans voix = this left me speechless

-> a laissée qui ? = left whom ? -> m' = me (Lydia) -> agreement with the direct object pronoun

See link here (under case of direct object pronouns): special-cases-when-the-past-participle-agrees-in-number-and-gender-when-used-with-avoir-in-le-passe-compose

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Gabrielle F.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

The agreement is with the speaker, as she is female:  "It (the thing she found inside) left me (agreement here)speechless."

Agreement of past participle

Et ce que j'ai découvert à l'intérieur m'a laissée - Laisser  is conjugated with avoir so why is the past participle agreeing. I guess it has something to do with l'intérieur being feminine but I can't work out why.

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