Neues Konzept

The house of être

A small group of verbs — most of them about moving from one place to another, or a change of state — builds the passé composé with être instead of avoir:

Verb Paired with
aller → allé (go) venir → venu (come)
arriver → arrivé (arrive) partir → parti (leave)
entrer → entré (go in) sortir → sorti (go out)
monter → monté (go up) descendre → descendu (go down)
naître → né (be born) mourir → mort (die)
rester → resté (stay) tomber → tombé (fall)

Add rentrer (go home), revenir (come back), retourner (go back) and devenir (become). Picture a house: you arrive, go in, go up the stairs, come down, go out and leave — or you simply stay.

Je suis allé au marché. — I went to the market. Elle est arrivée hier. — She arrived yesterday.