Is DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP worth learning?

It is a memory aid for the être list, and it works well enough that most classrooms use it. Two cautions: it does not include the reflexive verbs, which are the larger half of the rule, and it lists verbs in an order that has nothing to do with how often you will need them. Learn aller, venir, partir, sortir and arriver first. Those carry most of the traffic.

Do the six switching verbs change meaning as well as auxiliary?

Yes, and the meaning change is the reliable signal. Je suis sorti means I went out; j’ai sorti le chien means I took the dog out. Je suis passé means I went past; j’ai passé un examen means I sat an exam. If you can put a direct object after the verb, you are in the avoir version.

Does the participle ever agree after avoir?

Only when a direct object comes before the verb. That happens with an object pronoun, je les ai vus, or in a relative clause: la lettre que j’ai écrite. If the object comes after the verb, as it normally does, there is no agreement at all.

Does this apply to tenses other than the passé composé?

Yes. Every compound tense uses the same auxiliary as the passé composé, so a verb that takes être there takes it in the plus-que-parfait (j’étais allé), the futur antérieur (je serai allé) and the conditionnel passé (je serais allé). Learning the choice once covers all of them.

Which one to useA2

Avoir or être in the passé composé

The short answer

Almost every French verb forms the passé composé with avoir. Être is used by a short, closed list of movement and change-of-state verbs: aller, venir, partir, sortir and about a dozen others, and by every reflexive verb. If your verb is not on that list and is not reflexive, use avoir.

Or skip ahead and practise it now: passé composé, free, no signup.

At a glance

Avoir or Être?

Compare	AvoirThe default. Almost every verb.	ÊtreA closed list, plus every reflexive verb.
How many verbs	The overwhelming majority	About sixteen, plus all reflexives
Typical meaning	Anything: actions, states, verbs with an object	Coming and going, arriving and leaving, being born and dying
Past participle	Unchanged, unless a direct object comes before the verb	Agrees with the subject in gender and number
With a direct object	Normal: j’ai vu le film	Switches the verb to avoir: j’ai sorti les poubelles
Reflexive verbs	Never	Always: je me suis levé
Example	J’ai mangé, il a couru, nous avons attendu	Je suis allé, elle est partie, ils sont nés

How to choose

Ask these, in order

1
Is the verb reflexive, is there a se in front of it?
Être, always. There is no exception to this one.
Elle s’est réveillée à six heures.
She woke up at six.
2
Is it a verb of movement or of changing state?
Être. The list is short enough to simply learn: aller, venir, arriver, partir, entrer, sortir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, rester, tomber, retourner, passer, plus the compounds revenir, devenir and rentrer.
Nous sommes arrivés en retard.
We arrived late.
3
Does the verb have a direct object in this particular sentence?
Avoir, even for a verb from the être list.
J’ai sorti les poubelles.
I took the bins out.
NBCompare je suis sorti, “I went out”. The object changes the auxiliary and the meaning together. Six verbs do this: monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, retourner and passer.
4
None of the above?
Avoir. It is the default, and guessing avoir is right far more often than guessing être.
Ils ont attendu une heure.
They waited an hour.

Side by side

Each one, in full

Avoir

When to use avoir

The default. Almost every verb.

Avoir is the auxiliary for everything that is not on the être list and not reflexive, which is the great majority of French verbs. Nothing about the meaning has to be checked: if the verb is not one of the sixteen and has no se, the answer is avoir.

The past participle after avoir does not change to match the subject. It changes only when a direct object appears before the verb: as a pronoun, or in a relative clause, and that is a separate rule worth learning on its own rather than folding into this choice.

Nous avons attendu le train pendant une heure.

We waited for the train for an hour.

Elle a travaillé toute la nuit.

She worked all night.

NBElle is feminine, but the participle stays travaillé. Agreement is an être thing.

Les photos que j’ai prises sont floues.

The photos I took are blurry.

NBHere the participle does agree, les photos comes before the verb, so prises takes -es.

Être

When to use être

A closed list, plus every reflexive verb.

Two groups take être. The first is a closed list of about sixteen verbs, almost all of them about arriving, leaving, going up, going down, being born or dying. The second is every reflexive verb without exception, whatever it means.

With être the participle agrees with the subject: add -e for a feminine subject, -s for a plural, -es for both. This is the part that gets written wrong even by learners who pick the right auxiliary, because it is inaudible in most verbs and only shows up in writing.

Elle est partie sans rien dire.

She left without saying anything.

NBPartie, not parti, the subject is feminine.

Mes parents sont rentrés très tard.

My parents got home very late.

Nous nous sommes perdus dans le centre.

We got lost in the centre.

NBReflexive, so être, regardless of the fact that se perdre is not a verb of movement.

Mistakes to avoid

What learners actually get wrong

J’ai allé au marché.
Je suis allé au marché.
Aller is on the être list, and it is the verb learners get wrong most often because the English “I have gone” pushes towards avoir. French does not follow English on the choice of auxiliary at all.
Elle est sorti hier soir.
Elle est sortie hier soir.
After être the participle agrees with the subject, so a feminine subject adds -e. After avoir it would stay unchanged, which is why the two rules have to be learned together rather than one at a time.
Je suis monté les valises.
J’ai monté les valises.
Monter has a direct object here, and that switches it to avoir. Six verbs from the être list behave this way, monter, descendre, sortir, rentrer, retourner, passer, and the meaning shifts with the auxiliary: je suis monté is “I went up”, j’ai monté is “I took up”.
Elle a se levée tôt.
Elle s’est levée tôt.
Reflexive verbs take être without exception, and the reflexive pronoun sits before the auxiliary rather than after it. Both halves of that go wrong together, so it is worth practicing as one pattern.

Now use it

Passé composé

Auxiliary, past participle and agreement: practice with full verb conjugation. Reading a rule and being able to apply it are different skills, and only one of them shows up when you speak.

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Questions

Asked and answered

Is DR & MRS VANDERTRAMP worth learning?: It is a memory aid for the être list, and it works well enough that most classrooms use it. Two cautions: it does not include the reflexive verbs, which are the larger half of the rule, and it lists verbs in an order that has nothing to do with how often you will need them. Learn aller, venir, partir, sortir and arriver first. Those carry most of the traffic.
Do the six switching verbs change meaning as well as auxiliary?: Yes, and the meaning change is the reliable signal. Je suis sorti means I went out; j’ai sorti le chien means I took the dog out. Je suis passé means I went past; j’ai passé un examen means I sat an exam. If you can put a direct object after the verb, you are in the avoir version.
Does the participle ever agree after avoir?: Only when a direct object comes before the verb. That happens with an object pronoun, je les ai vus, or in a relative clause: la lettre que j’ai écrite. If the object comes after the verb, as it normally does, there is no agreement at all.
Does this apply to tenses other than the passé composé?: Yes. Every compound tense uses the same auxiliary as the passé composé, so a verb that takes être there takes it in the plus-que-parfait (j’étais allé), the futur antérieur (je serai allé) and the conditionnel passé (je serais allé). Learning the choice once covers all of them.

Keep going

Imparfait vs passé composéB1Use the passé composé for a completed event that moves the story forward, and the imparfait for the situation around it: descriptions, states, and habits.