📖LearnModule 12 · Lesson 6 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C1, completedUnit 2 · L'accord du participe passé
La règle en une phrase
Module 12 of the free French course (CEFR C1, completed), lesson 6 of 30: Here is the whole rule. On this page: 8 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line, the conjugation table and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's lesson 6.
The words
French
English
Say it
les lettres que j'ai écrites
the letters I wrote
lay lehtr kuh zhay ay-KREET
le complément d'objet direct
the direct object
luh koh(n)-play-mah(n) dohb-zheh dee-REHKT
placé avant
placed before
plah-say ah-VAH(n)
s'accorder
to agree (grammatically)
sah-kor-DAY
la règle en une phrase
the rule in one sentence
lah rehgl ah(n) newn FRAHZ
le cas particulier
the special case
luh kah pahr-tee-kew-LYAY
invariable
invariable
a(n)-vah-RYAHBL
la terminaison muette
the silent ending
lah tehr-mee-neh-zoh(n) mew-EHT
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
Hear the words
Each word is read twice — say it back in the gap. Computer-generated voice; credits on the course page.
La règle · The rule
Here is the whole rule. With être, the participle agrees with the SUBJECT: elle est partie. With avoir, it agrees with nothing — unless the direct object comes BEFORE the verb.
Et aussi · And also
J'ai écrit trois lettres: no agreement, the object follows. Les trois lettres que j'ai écrites: agreement, because que stands for the letters and it came first. That is it; everything else in this unit is a special case of those two sentences.
Attention · Watch out
With avoir the participle agrees only when the direct object comes BEFORE the verb: j'ai écrit trois lettres (no agreement), les lettres que j'ai écrites (agreement).
écrire, passé composé — the table
je ai écrit · tu as écrit · il/elle a écrit · nous avons écrit · vous avez écrit · ils/elles ont écrit
Do it now — on paper
Say all 8 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with les lettres que j'ai écrites.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out écrire, passé composé in full from memory, every person, and check each form against the table above.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The French Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.