Forming the perfect tense with être
Reminder: The perfect tense of most verbs is made up of avoir + past participle.
Yesterday, I watched television.
We use être être, présent + past participle for certain verbs, in particular some verbs indicating movement.
Examples: aller (to go), arriver (to arrive), venir (to come), partir (to leave).
Rayan went to Brussels.
When using être, the past participle always agrees with the subject:
Théo arrived at the station.
Anna left at 9 a.m.
Anna and Nadia arrived yesterday.
Théo and Anna left last Thursday.
The negative form looks like this: subject + ne/n' + être (in the present tense) + pas + past participle.
I went on vacation. → I didn't go on vacation.
Note: We also use être + past participle with reflexive verbs.
Examples: se laver (to get washed), se coucher (to go to bed), s'habiller (to get dressed).
Nadia went to bed late last night.
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