Préparés

D. B.B1Kwiziq community member

Préparés

Asked 6 years ago
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Damien,

you are correct in that the past participle does not match the COD in the case of avoir

BUT (and there always is a but!)

except for the case when the COD precedes the particple, in which case it IS matched. Let's look at your example:

Nous les avons préparés. --"les" is the COD and precedes the participle ("préparés"). Since "les" is plural (and apparently not all female), the participle needs to take this into account --> "preparés".

-- Chris (not a anative speaker).

AurélieNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Bonjour Damien and Chris !

Here is the link to our lesson on past participle agreement with the direct object pronoun with auxiliary avoir :

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/grammar/special-cases-when-the-past-participle-agrees-in-number-and-gender-when-used-with-avoir-in-le-passe-compose-conversational-past

Bonne journée ! 

D. B.B1Kwiziq community member
nous les avons préparés. Why not préparé? i thought past participle did not change to match subject when avoir is auxiliary.
D. B.B1Kwiziq community member
thanks Chris, very interesting. By the way, what does COD stand for? i would have called "les" a direct object pronoun. 
Chris W.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

COD = Complément d'objet direct.

Yes, "direct object pronoun" is exactly what COD means.

-- Chris.

D. B. asked:View original

Préparés

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your French level for FREE

Test your French to the CEFR standard

Find your French level
Thinking...