Past participles

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Permalink Reply by Chantal Savignat on March 3, 2013 at 8:04pm

here is some corrections, but there are other options :

We ate breakfast at 7:00: Nous avons pris le petit déjeuner à sept heures

I didn't wash myself: Je ne me suis pas lavé

we brushed our teeth: nous nous sommes brossés les dents 

you (plural) went to bed: vous vous êtes couchés / vous êtes allés vous coucher 

you just went to bed: vous venez de vous coucher

we just brushed our teeth: nous venons de nous brosser les dents 

We stayed for a week: Nous sommes restés par une semaine

You didn't do your homework: Tu n'as pas fait tes devoirs

after brushing our teeth, we went out : après nous être brossés les dents, nous sommes sortis.

after getting up, I ate breakfast, : après m'être levé, j'ai pris mon petit déjeuner.

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on March 4, 2013 at 12:14am

I think it should be "nous nous sommes brossé les dents" as well as  "après nous être brossé les dents" because "brossé" doesn't have a direct object.("nous" is an indirect object of the verb).

 

So the final "s" in "brossés" is incorrect  as far as I can see. 

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on March 4, 2013 at 2:14am

Yes, as you say, traditionally you wouldn't add the agreement here: the traditional rule is that the agreement is made with a preceding direct object, and in Nous nous sommes brossé les dents, "nous" represents a preceding indirect object.

On the other hand, it's quite a subtle detail: there's no need for the questioner to panic too much if they haven't gone into this level of detail just yet. For the purposes of speaking French, it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever :)

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Permalink Reply by Chantal Savignat on March 4, 2013 at 2:08pm

Hello

ah !!! the past participle and his complicated rules !!! a past participle error (with or without "s") is the most usual error.

I read all the rules again, and you are right = "nous nous sommes brossé les dents". Because "nous" is an indirect object.

and yes, don't panic, most of French (like me) don't know  the whole rules ;-)

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