Passé composé with être or avoir or both?

Celine G.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Passé composé with être or avoir or both?

Hi can you help me with the conjugation of "passer"with être and avoir. There is an example of both but I'm not sure how to know when to use them.. Ma tante est passée........, nous avons passé une semaine...... When it's se passer it's not a problem as it's always conjugated with être. Many thanks
Asked 7 years ago
GruffNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer
Salut Celine,

Check out:
Passer can be used with avoir or être in compound tenses depending on its meaning in French (Le Passé Composé)">Passer can be used with avoir or être in compound tenses depending on its meaning in French (Le Passé Composé)">Passer can be used with avoir or être in compound tenses depending on its meaning in French (Le Passé Composé)">Passer can be used with avoir or être in compound tenses depending on its meaning in French (Le Passé Composé)

Also, you can follow the link in that lesson "Verbes aux deux auxiliaires" to see information and lessons for verbs that can use both avoir and être in Le Passé Composé.

Technically, it's a matter of whether the verbs are used in their transitive or intransitive forms, but the easiest pattern to spot is whether or not a preposition follows (en, à, sur, dans etc.)

Hope that helps!
Ron T.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor
Bonjour Celine, I too have difficulty with the use of être or avoir with certain verbs to give a different meaning. Most verbs use either avoir or être as the auxiliary verb in le Passé Composé (or other compound tense), but passer uses both, depending on what it means in the sentence*. être + passé = pass by = go past = stop by = pop by avoir + passé = spend = take = pass (to someone) I am not exactly sure how and when to differentiate the two in the respective function. The only thing that seems to have helped are the translations given in the lesson, and to me even that is somewhat ambiguous with certain verbs. Wish that i had more to offer you besides just saying that there are others who experience the same issue.l Bonne chance ! Ron
Celine G.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
Merci Ron, je suis contente que je ne suis pas seule:) C

Passé composé with être or avoir or both?

Hi can you help me with the conjugation of "passer"with être and avoir. There is an example of both but I'm not sure how to know when to use them.. Ma tante est passée........, nous avons passé une semaine...... When it's se passer it's not a problem as it's always conjugated with être. Many thanks

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