Dr and Mrs Vandertramp are not a Dutch couple who spend their time healing the sick and educating them on all things French grammar. ‘DRMRSVANDERTRAMP’ is an acronym that represents a class of verbs which have a unique relationship with être and avoir in the passé composé (past tense).

The verbs are: Devenir, Rester, Monter, Revenir, Sortir, Venir, Aller, Naître, Descendre, Entrer, Rentrer, Tomber, Retourner, Arriver, Mourir, Partir.

Before we delve any further, let’s recap how the past tense is formed in French. (This lesson assumes knowledge of basic verb conjugations, especially avoir and être)

In English, the past tense is simple, meaning it is composed of only one part (e.g. I ate). To express nuance, one can also use the past participle (I have eaten). This form, like the passé composé, is composite, meaning it is made up of more than one part (have + eaten). The simple past in English is rendered by the passé composé in French, as illustrated by the following examples:

I ate – J’ai mangé (also ‘I have eaten’)

The boy left – Le garcon est parti (also ‘The boy has left’)

You will notice that the past tense in French is made up of two parts: the auxiliary (or helping) verb + the past participle (pp) of the main verb (this is not to be confused with the English pp). The auxiliary is always going to be ‘avoir‘ (to have) or ‘être‘ (to be). The pp forms will need to be rote-learnt; remember in French all verbs end in ‘-er‘, ‘-ir‘ or ‘-re‘, so you just need to learn three sets of endings. There are exceptions (surprise surprise), and those just need to be rote-learnt without ‘tricks’. For example, attendre (to wait) is a regular ‘re’ verb so its pp is formed by replacing the ‘re’ with ‘u’ (attendu). ‘Faire‘ (to do, to make) is irregular so its pp (fait) does not follow that rule.

The choice of avoir‘ or ‘être‘ in the passé composé depends on the verb in question and its use, and that is where ‘DRMRSVANDERTRAMP’ comes in handy. When used with être in the passé composé, they express an action that is performed on oneself (in the same way as a reflexive verb). Take a look at this example of a reflexive verb in action:

Je me suis réveillé tôt ce matin – I woke up early this morning (literally ‘I woke myself up’)

Let’s break this down:

• the reflexive verb here is se réveiller, meaning ‘to wake up’
• reflexive verbs automatically take ‘être’ in the passé composé
• ‘se‘ is a reflexive pronoun, which conveys the idea of performing an action on oneself

All DRMRSVANDERTRAMP verbs use être in the passé composé when they express an action similar to that of a reflexive verb:

Elle est descendue de la voiture – She got down from the car

Vous êtes sorti cette semaine? – Have you gone out this week?

Mon père est devenu médecin après des années d’études – My dad became a doctor after years of study

However, some DRMRSVANDERTRAMP can also take avoir in the passé composé. This happens if the action is been performed on another agent, rather than on oneself. A handful can only ever be employed with être. Below is the distinction:

DRMRSVANDERTRAMP verbs that can only be employed with être: revenir, aller, naître, partir, mourir, venir, arriver, devenir, entrer and rester

DRMRSVANDERTRAMP verbs that can be employed with être or avoir: monter, sortir, descendre, rentrer, tomber, retourner

Look at the difference between these two sentences:

Où est Élodie? | Elle est montée – Where is Élodie? She has gone up (implied up the stairs or similar)

Où est Élodie? | Elle a monté la scène – Where is Élodie? She climbed up on stage

In the first example, Elodie has moved herself in an upward direction (up a flight of stairs, escalator, etc.); because she has done this to herself, ‘être’ is used.

In example #2, she has climbed something else; because she has performed this action on something else, ‘avoir’ is used

Here’s another example:

Le policier est sorti de la gendarmerie – The policeman went out of the station (or came out of the station)

Le policier a sorti son arme – The policeman took out his gun

In example 1, he is moving himself out out of the station, therefore être is used; in #2, he is removing his gun, and because that action is being performed on another object, avoir is used.

You may have noticed that some of the pp in the examples above have agreements in gender and number applied to them while others do not. For more on agreement rules, see the first half of this post: Après avoir, après être