We use avoir when descendre, (r)entrer, (re)monter, retourner and sortir are followed by a direct object. I had gone to Brittany on holiday.Ĭheck out our page on avoir/être to pick up some tips on remembering which verbs take être as their auxiliary in the compound tenses. Most verbs construct the plus-que-parfait using avoir, however être is used as the auxiliary verb in the following cases:
Example: Je ne m’étais pas trompé dans mon calcul. I had left.→ I had not left.įor reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun comes after the first part of the negation (ne) and before the auxiliary verb (avoir/être). In negative sentences, the past participle comes after the second part of the negation (pas).