On a French site I saw the sentence:
"elles nous ont écoutées"
but I thought that when "avoir" is the auxiliary verb there is no adjustment for gender. Should it not have been:
"elles nous ont écouté"??
Merci en avance!
Ooops! I just found something about number and gender agreement with DIRECT OBJECT (even if the auxiliary verb is avoir.)
So, I guess the first sentecen was correct afterall.
If I, e.g. would say:'"avez-vous trouvé votre chien?"
would the answer then be:
"Oui, nous l'avons trouvés."???????
that should have been: sentence (not sentecen!!!)
I think I am going out of my mind with this.
After thinking that over, I guess the answer to my sentence:
"avez-vous trouvé votre chien"
should have been:
"oui, nous l'avons trouvé" because the agreement is with CHIEN not with NOUS - is that right???
I am soooo sorry to be such a nuisance.
Thank you for your help!!!!
Bon soir, E.G.!
Let's look at the first one. Right, past participles conjugated with avoir agree in number in gender with a preceding direct object, while those conjugated with être agree in number and gender with the subject AND Reflexive Verbs, also conjugated with être have the past particple agree with the reflexive pronoun when it is the direct object. There are instances when that reflexive pronoun becomes an indirect object and then there is no agreement of the past particpe. An example is "I washed my hair." = Je me suis lavé les cheveux. Because "les cheveux" will be the direct object, the "me" becomes indirect simply saying the hair belonged TO me. This may be too soon for you to read all this; just take it one step at a time!
The 2nd question = right again! Now, if it were a female dog (chienne) = Nous l'avons trouvée. Get it? :)
You are NOT a nuisance. I love your questions because they show you are a thinking person!
Joyeux jour d'action de grâces.
Sra (aka Mme)
Merci beaucoup Mme - je comprends maintenant. Joyeux jour d'action de grâces aussi à vous.
Great question! The sentence you saw, "elles nous ont écoutées," is actually correct. In French, when using the verb "avoir" as the auxiliary verb in compound tenses, such as the passé composé, the past participle agrees in gender and number with the direct object if it comes before the verb. In this case, "écoutées" agrees with the direct object "elles."
To determine the agreement, you need to ask the question "what?" or "whom?" after the verb. In this sentence, the direct object is "elles" (meaning "them"), which is feminine and plural. Therefore, the past participle "écoutées" also takes the feminine and plural form.
If the sentence were "elles nous ont écouté" without the "es" at the end, it would be incorrect because it wouldn't agree with the feminine plural subject "elles." Remember that the agreement only applies to the past participle when "avoir" is the auxiliary verb.
I hope this clears up any confusion. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask!