Agreement with vous

French verb agreement
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Accord avec vous

The personal pronoun vous can be summarized as "the formal and/or plural ‘you ’." It serves as every type of personal pronoun, but its role as a subject pronoun is in some ways the trickiest.

With regard to verb conjugation, vous is always second person plural, no matter how many people it refers to.

Par exemple…

Monsieur, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ?   Sir, do you need help?
Madame, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ?   Ma’am, do you need help?
Messieurs, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ?   Gentlemen, do you need help?
Mesdames, avez-vous besoin d’assistance ?   Ladies, do you need help?

In terms of agreement, however, vous is more complicated: it depends on whom exactly vous refers to. If it’s a single man, there’s no agreement, whereas a single woman requires feminine agreement. Likewise, multiple men and multiple women require plural and feminine plural agreement, respectively.

Vous agreement with adjectives

Êtes-vous prĂȘt, Monsieur ?   Are you ready, sir?
Êtes-vous prĂȘte, Madame ?   Are you ready, ma’am?
Êtes-vous prĂȘts, Messieurs ?   Are you ready, gentlemen?
Êtes-vous prĂȘtes, Mesdames ?   Are you ready, ladies?

Vous agreement with past participles

Êtes-vous allĂ© Ă  la banque, Monsieur ?   Did you go to the bank, sir?
Êtes-vous allĂ©e Ă  la banque, Madame ?   Did you go to the bank, ma’am?
Êtes-vous allĂ©s Ă  la banque, Messieurs ?   Did you go to the bank, gentlemen?
Êtes-vous allĂ©es Ă  la banque, Mesdames ?   Did you go to the bank, ladies?

Vous agreement with pronominal verbs

Vous ĂȘtes-vous promenĂ©, Monsieur ?   Did you take a walk, sir?
Vous ĂȘtes-vous promenĂ©e, Madame ?   Did you take a walk, ma’am?
Vous ĂȘtes-vous promenĂ©s, Messieurs ?   Did you take a walk, gentlemen?
Vous ĂȘtes-vous promenĂ©es, Mesdames ?   Did you take a walk, ladies?

Vous agreement with avoir verbs

When vous is a direct object and precedes an avoir verb in a compound tense/mood, it likewise has to agree with the actual gender/number of the noun it represents.

Monsieur, je vous ai vu au musĂ©e.   Sir, I saw you at the museum.
Madame, je vous ai vue au musĂ©e.   Ma’am, I saw you at the museum.
Messieurs, je vous ai vus au musĂ©e.   Gentlemen, I saw you at the museum.
Mesdames, je vous ai vues au musĂ©e.   Ladies, I saw you at the museum.

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French agreement with vous

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