In the past, we’ve touched upon the passé using the verb avoir and être, but today, we’ll tie each of those concepts together by negating each kind, and discuss more regarding être in terms of the verbs that require être. Then, we’ll discuss several new vocabulary words.

Let’s get started.

First, there are several ways that you can negate any sentence.

As you can see above, when speaking in the passé composé, the verb avoir (to have) goes in between each part of the negation, whereas the second verb, which is the action you completed, comes after. Remember that in the passé composé, avoir and être are helping verbs, that allow you to speak about actions you have already completed.

The examples above (except for the last one) all use avoir, though. With certain verbs, it is instead necessary to use étre. (For the complete list, visit this website.) In this case, you would apply the same negation principle but use the conjugated form of être. For example, a sentence might be:

Je ne suis jamais tombé.

Or:

Tu n’es pas resté.

Or:

Il n’est plus parti.

And so on.

Assorted Vocabulary

This week’s subject: the French School System. The following words are all in some way related to the idea of school in France, but many are relevant in the United States as well.

Conversational

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

Gabe