Participle Agreement
with a Preceding Direct Object
The past participle of the passé composé, will always reflect the gender and number of a preceding direct object (see Object Pronouns).
| La gloire, je l'ai connue, je l'ai vue.
--Honoré de Balzac La liberté appartient à ceux qui l'ont conquise.
J'ai vu la chatte traverser la rue. |
A preceding direct object need not necessarily appear as a pronoun directly in front of the verbal clause. If the passé composé is used inside a relative clause, the modified noun could potentially be a preceding direct object (see Relative Pronouns).
| Il a créé la plus forte administration civile
que la France ait connue -- André Malraux à propos de Napoléon 1, Antimémoires. Les vrais paradis sont les paradis qu'on a perdus.
- Marcel Proust |
Also in questions, the interrogative pronoun often counts as a preceding direct object.
Reflexive
If the subject is the direct object of the verb, the past participle of the
passé composé will agree with it (See reflexives).
| Elle s'est assise. She sat down. Nous nous sommes peignés. Cosette s'était toujours crue laide. |
Careful! If the subject is the indirect object of a reflexive sentence, no agreement takes place.
In addition when the reflexive takes an object, the past participle will agree with this object rather than the subject when it is preceding.
| Elle s'est brossée les dents. Elle se les est brossées.She brushed her teeth. |