📖LearnModule 4 · Lesson 1 of 30Basic User · CEFR A2, completedUnit 1 · Le passé composé with être
Elle est allée — être in the past
Module 4 of the free French course (CEFR A2, completed), lesson 1 of 30: A small club of verbs, mostly going and coming. On this page: 7 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 1.
The words
French
English
Say it
il est allé
he went
eel eh tah-LAY
elle est allée
she went
ehl eh tah-LAY
arriver
to arrive
ah-ree-VAY
il est arrivé
he arrived
eel eh tah-ree-VAY
elle est arrivée
she arrived
ehl eh tah-ree-VAY
l'école est finie
school is over
lay-kohl eh fee-NEE
la liste
the list
lah LEEST
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
A small club of verbs — mostly going and coming — builds its past with ÊTRE instead of avoir: aller, arriver, partir, rester, venir. Il est allé au parc.
Et aussi · And also
The participle now AGREES like an adjective: il est allé, but elle est allée — the extra -e is silent, and the spelling habit is the lesson.
Attention · Watch out
elle est allée adds an -e you cannot hear: the agreement is a spelling rule. Write it every time; your ear will not remind you.
aller, passé composé — the table
il est allé · elle est allée · ils sont allés · elles sont allées
arriver, passé composé — the table
il est arrivé · elle est arrivée · ils sont arrivés · elles sont arrivées
Do it now — on paper
Say all 7 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the French spelling alone — begin with il est allé.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the French.
Write out aller, passé composé and arriver, 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.