Hello all, it's finally time for a new episode of French on a Windowsill! Episode 13 builds onto the last two, which were about the passé composé in general and about reflexive verbs. Exciting stuff. There are some good rules to help you work out when you're supposed to use which verb with this tense, so have a look at the video to get familiar.
French on a Windowsill
The verbs of movement house
©frangram.wordpress.com
This image is a good summary of most verbs of movement, though not the exhaustive list of all that you use être with in the passé composé.
Singing the rule
about.com's fab French pages contain some good tips on how other teachers have helped their students remember these verbs, and here's one I really liked:
Sing the [..] verbs to the tune of “Ten Little Indians.”
allé, arrivé, venu, revenu,
entré, rentré, descendu, devenu,
sorti, parti, resté, retourné,
monté, tombé, né et mort.
Dr & Mrs Vandertramp
Finally, there's a popular mnemonic called Dr & Mrs Vandertramp. I've never heard of this one before, and to be honest I don't think my French teacher was particularly into these helpful mnemonics, but apparently this is very popular in US High Schools. Have you heard of it before?
- Devenir – to become – devenu
- Revenir – to come back – revenu
- Monter – to go up – monté
- Rester – to stay – resté
- Sortir– to exit – sorti
- Venir – to come – venu
- Aller – to go – allé
- Naître – to be born – né
- Descendre – to descend – descendu
- Entrer – to enter – entré
- Retourner – to return – retourné
- Tomber – to fall – tombé
- Rentrer- to re-enter- rentré
- Arriver – to arrive – arrivé
- Mourir – to die – mort
- Passer par – to pass by – passé
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