ABSTRACT
They may be accompanied (usually optionally, but sometimes obligatorily) by adverbs (see Chapter 5). Examples shown in brackets indicate that the adverb is optional:
Elle part (en vacances) She is going (on holiday) Un léger brouillard montait (de la mer) A mist rose (from the sea) Il a respiré fortement He breathed deeply Christian serait tombé (du haut de la falaise) Christian apparently fell (from the cliff) Elle est descendue (péniblement) She went down (gingerly) Cet homme avait vécu plus de 90 ans That man had lived into his nineties Louis tremblait (de tous ses membres) Louis was trembling (all over) Les minutes passaient (lentement) The minutes passed (slowly)
8.2.1 Intransitive verbs and auxiliary avoir Most intransitive verbs employ the auxiliary avoir in compound tenses:
Depuis janvier les prix ont augmenté Since January prices have gone up Il aurait acquiescé He agreed, apparently La fête avait continué The party had gone on Elle avait disparu She had disappeared Il n’a pas souffert He didn’t suffer La situation aura probablement empiré The situation will probably have got worse
A small set of verbs, including commencer, changer, disparaître, vieillir, normally appear with the auxiliary avoir in compound tenses, but their past participles may be used with être to describe a state of affairs. In this case the past par ticiple is used in very much the same way as an adjective (for adjectives, see Chapter 4). Compare the following sentences:
Il a commencé à lire ce roman La pièce est commencée
Il a changé les pneus de sa voiture Depuis dix ans elle est vraiment changée
He began to read this novel The play has begun
He changed the tyres on his car She has really changed in ten years
NB: With être and a state of affairs, there will be agreement between the past participle and the subject. With avoir and an action there will not. (See Chapter 9.2 and 9.3.)
8.2.2 Intransitive verbs and auxiliary être Intransitive verbs with être A small set of intransitive verbs, some very frequently used, appear with the auxiliary être in compound tenses:
Un léger brouillard est monté de la mer A mist rose from the sea Christian est tombé du haut de la falaise Christian fell from the cliff Elle était descendue She had gone down Marie-Christine est née en 1968 Marie-Christine was born in 1968
The verbs which take être in this way are:
aller to go naître to be born arriver to arrive partir to leave décéder to die rentrer to go home demeurer to remain rester to stay descendre to go down retourner to return devenir to become revenir to come back entrer to enter sortir to go out monter to go up tomber to fall mourir to die venir to come
and verbs derived from the above: redescendre, remonter, renaître, repartir, retomber, parvenir and survenir.
