How to Remember Passé Composé Verbs Using Etre

[Janthony104879]

French Verbs Passé Composé Avec Être

Monter - to go/climb up; to ride.                Many
Aller - to go.                                                        Are
Venir - to come.                                                  Very
Mourir - to die.                                                    Mad
Naitre - to be born.                                            Not
Descendre - to go down/ descend.              Doing
Entre - to come in.                                               Everything
Rentre - to go back.                                            Right
Devenir - to become.                                            Doing
Arriver - to arrive.                                                Almost
Partir - to leave.                                                    Perfectly
Passer - to go by.                                                 Passing
Rester - to stay.                                                   Resting
Sortir - to go out.                                                  Students
Retourner- to return.                                          Returning

Its not a perfect sentence, but it helps me remeber the 14 ( really 15) verbs that use etre to conjugate the passé composé.

[team.relationships]

Hi Janthony104879!

There are 14 common verbs plus numerous derivatives which take être, and their derivatives usually do too. For example, entrer is an être verb, as is its derivative rentrer. Generally speaking, all of the verbs indicate a particular kind of movement, either literal or figurative.

Intransitive verbs:
One very important thing to remember is that verbs only use être when they are intransitive (do not have a direct object):
-Je suis passé à huit heures vs J'ai passé la maison.
-Je suis monté avant lui vs J'ai monté la valise.
I can promise you that eventually you will instinctively know which verbs take être, but in the meantime, you might want to try the following three acronyms that are commonly used to remember être verbs. Strangely, none of them includes passer, which is an être verb when used intransively.

DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP

This is perhaps the most popular mnemonic device for être verbs in the United States. Personally, I find DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP redundant since it includes some derivatives, but if it works for you, go for it:

Devenir
Revenir
&
Monter
Rester
Sortir

Venir
Aller
Naître
Descendre
Entrer
Rentrer
Tomber
Retourner
Arriver
Mourir
Partir

ADVENT

Each letter in ADVENT stands for one of the verbs and its opposite, plus one extra verb, for a total of thirteen.

Arriver - Partir
Descendre - Monter
Venir - Aller
Entrer - Sortir
Naître - Mourir
Tomber - Rester
Retourner

DRAPERS VAN MMT13

Each letter in DRAPERS VAN MMT stands for one of the 13 verbs.

Descendre
Rester
Aller
Partir
Entrer
Retourner
Sortir

Venir
Arriver
Naître

Mourir
Monter
Tomber
---------
13 total verbs

I hope you find this helpful! Keep up the good work and you will know how to properly use these verbs in no time!

Stefania/FrenchPod101.com