Past-participle agreement with avoir (preceding direct object)
Summary
With avoir, the past participle agrees with the direct object only when that object comes before the verb; otherwise it stays invariable.
Explanation
When a compound tense is built with the auxiliary avoir, the default is no agreement: the past participle stays in its base masculine-singular form. J'ai mangé les pommes (I ate the apples) keeps mangé invariable even though les pommes is feminine plural, because the object follows the verb. This is the normal case and covers the great majority of sentences.
Agreement appears only in one precise situation: when a direct object comes before the verb, the participle agrees with that preceding direct object in gender and number. The preceding object is usually one of three things — a direct-object pronoun (le, la, les, me, te, nous, vous), the relative pronoun que, or an interrogative with quel(le)(s) or combien. Thus les pommes que j'ai mangées, je les ai vues, quelle robe as-tu achetée ?
It is essential that the preceding element be a DIRECT object. There is no agreement with an indirect object: je leur ai parlé and la femme à qui j'ai écrit stay invariable, because parler à and écrire à take indirect objects. There is likewise no agreement with the pronoun en (des fleurs ? j'en ai acheté) and none with quantity expressions that act adverbially (les efforts que ça a coûté). Distinguishing direct from indirect objects is the heart of this rule.
Like all participle agreement, the change is usually inaudible — mangé and mangées sound the same — so it lives almost entirely in spelling. There are a few cases where it is audible, with participles whose feminine adds a pronounced consonant: la lettre que j'ai écrite (the -te is heard), les portes que j'ai ouvertes, la décision que j'ai prise. Those audible forms are a good reason to master the rule even in speech-oriented learning.
Rule of thumb: with avoir, scan leftward for a direct object before the verb. If you find a direct-object pronoun, a que, or an interrogative quel/combien standing for a direct object, make the participle agree with it; if the object comes after the verb, or if it is indirect, or if it is en, leave the participle unchanged. When unsure, replace the pronoun with its full noun to test whether it is truly the direct object.
Examples
La lettre que j'ai écrite est sur la table. — The letter (that) I wrote is on the table. (écrite agrees with the preceding object que (= la lettre); here the -te is audible.)
Tes clés ? Je les ai trouvées dans la voiture. — Your keys? I found them in the car. (trouvées agrees with the preceding pronoun les (feminine plural).)
J'ai mangé les pommes. — I ate the apples. (No agreement: the direct object les pommes follows the verb.)
Je leur ai parlé hier. — I spoke to them yesterday. (No agreement: leur is an indirect object (parler à).)
Des fleurs ? Oui, j'en ai acheté. — Flowers? Yes, I bought some. (No agreement with the pronoun en.)
Quelle décision a-t-il prise ? — Which decision did he make? (Interrogative quelle décision precedes the verb → prise (feminine).)
Common mistakes
Les fleurs que j'ai acheté sont belles.
Les fleurs que j'ai achetées sont belles.
With the auxiliary avoir, the past participle agrees with the direct object only when that object comes before the verb. Here the relative pronoun que stands for les fleurs (feminine plural) and precedes j'ai acheté, so the participle must agree: achetées. Learners often leave it invariable (« que j'ai acheté ») because the agreement is usually silent, but it is required in spelling. The mirror error is over-applying it: there is no agreement when the object follows (« j'ai acheté des fleurs »), nor with an indirect object or with en.
Prerequisites
Related rules
past-participleagreementdirect-object