Ma mère qui nous avait quittés

Question

ma mère qui nous avait quittés.Should it not be 'quittée' as it was the mother who did the leaving ?Pam

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Pamela,
When a verb is conjugated in Le Passé Composé with the auxiliary "avoir" and the direct object pronoun is placed before the verb, then the past participle agrees with the direct object pronoun:
"when the direct object of the verb is placed before the verb, the past participle has to agree with this object"
J'ai regardé la fille -> Je l'ai regardée
J'ai regardé les enfants -> Je les ai regardés
Take a look here for the agreement of the past participle: https://french.kwiziq.com/revision/grammar/special-cases-when-the-past-participle-agrees-in-number-and-gender-when-used-with-avoir-in-le-passe-compose-conversational-past
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

And “nous” is the direct object in this case.