Past participle agreement
Chapter 13 - Conjugation: le passé composé
OK, so first you have to learn by heart which verbs are using être and which others are using avoir but ... That's not all!
Remember also that the past participle agrees with the subject when the auxiliary is être.
Let's conjugate rester (to stay) to illustrate this rule.
rester masculine subject |
rester feminine subject |
to stay |
je suis resté | je suis restée | I have stayed or I stayed |
tu es resté | tu es restée | you have stayed or you stayed |
il est resté | elle est restée | he/she has stayed or he/she stayed |
nous sommes restés | nous sommes restées | we have stayed or we stayed |
vous êtes restés | vous êtes restées | you have stayed or you stayed |
ils sont restés | elles sont restées | they have stayed or they stayed |
Don't make the past participle agree with the subject when using avoir as an auxiliary.