Appendix:French auxiliary verbs

Auxiliary verbs are verbs that accompany the main verb in a clause in order to make distinctions in tense, mood, voice or aspect.

Avoir

 * Avoir is the principal verb used to form the perfect tense. It combined with the past participle to describe actions that happened (usually only once) in the past.

Être

 * Être is used with certain verbs derived from Latin deponent verbs to form the perfect tense. See below.
 * Être is also used to form the passive voice
 * To change the tense or, only the conjugation of être changes
 * To change the tense or, only the conjugation of être changes
 * To change the tense or, only the conjugation of être changes

Faire
Faire is used to mean to do in the sense "oblige/coerce someone to do something". Always followed by the infinitive of a verb

Aller

 * Aller as well as meaning to go is used to form the immediate future.

Rendre
Rendre is used like faire above, but it is always qualified by an adjective, not a verb. It mostly corresponds to the English auxiliary use of.

French verbs which take être
The following verbs take être when forming compound tenses (pluperfect and present perfect). These verbs are all intransitive in French. Certain verbs however use avoir when used transitively.


 * arrêter - to stop
 * monter - to climb/go up
 * (remonter - to go back up)
 * rester - to stay
 * sortir - to go out
 * venir - to come
 * (devenir - to become)
 * (redevenir to become again)
 * (revenir - to get back)
 * (But convenir - to suit - does not take être)
 * aller - to go
 * naître/naitre - to be born
 * renaître/renaitre - to be reborn
 * descendre - to go down
 * (redescendre - to go back down)
 * entrer - to enter
 * (rentrer - to return)
 * retourner - to send back / to return
 * tomber - to fall
 * (retomber to fall again)
 * arriver - to arrive
 * mourir - to die
 * partir - to leave or part
 * passer - to pass / to happen
 * paraître - to appear (that)
 * (apparaître - to appear)
 * (disparaître - to disappear)