On est passé(s)

EugeneC1Kwiziq community member

On est passé(s)

In the question "On ________ passé par là?", should there not be an 's', in this particular case, at the end of passé?

Asked 3 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Eugene !

Thanks for your excellent question which raises the interesting point of agreement with "on" :)

In this specific case, "on" was used as "we", and therefore required a plural agreement "passés" (that we fixed it to) or "passées" would be correct.
But it's worth noting that if the sentence had been meant as a passive sentence, i.e. "Someone passed this way.", there would be no agreement. 

Here's a link to our related lesson: 

Agreeing past participle with 'on' (compound tenses)

Merci encore et bonne journée !

CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Rita, 

Yes the -s is still there because the question was -

On ___ passés par là ? ( Did we pass this way?) 

and as the on is translated as 'we', the past participle is a plural.

Take a look at the lesson in Aurélie's answer to Eugene for more details.

Bonne Continuation!

ChrisC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Yes, I would also say that it ought to be passé(e)s.

CécileKwiziq team member

Thanks, Eugene, you are correct and I have flagged it up!

RitaC1Kwiziq community member

This confused me too! I see you asked the question 3 months ago! I would like to point out that the 's' is still on passé

On est passé(s)

In the question "On ________ passé par là?", should there not be an 's', in this particular case, at the end of passé?

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