Quand elle m'a embrassé, je me suis senti pousser des ailes.

Question

Can someone clarify why is it that "elle m'a embrassé" is using avoir as the auxiliary and not être? By this logic, I don't understand why "Aurélie s'est disputée avec sa soeur" is reflexive, as the direct object would be the sister?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Andrea,
Maarten is correct that "embrasser" is correctly conjugated with "avoir". His explanation is great.
For the second example, it's a little bit more complicated. "Sa sœur" is not an indirect object but rather a supporting adverbial phrase - answering to the question "with/without whom?" (in this case, "with whom?"). Remember French Indirect objects are introduced with "de/à qui ?". Also, the pronominal 'se' is not really a direct object pronouns. It is a reflexive pronoun. The use of the reflexive verb “se disputer” is used to emphasise that the verb action is on the person themselves.
Aurélie s’est disputée avec sa sœur→ Aurélie argued (herself) with her sister
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Andrea,For the first example, this is simply use of the verb ‘embrasser’ not the pronominal verb ‘s’embrasser’. This was an action ‘by her’ towards ‘me’, not a “reciprocal” kiss/embrace/hug. Conjugation is with avoir as expected for the verb ‘embrasser’. As ‘me’ is a direct object preceding the compound verb, the past participle agrees with the direct object grammatical gender, so ‘me’ must be male.https://www.wordreference.com/fren/embrasserIn the 2nd example ‘sa sœur’ is an indirect object, not direct. The preposition ‘avec’ separates the verb ‘se disputer’ and the object ‘sa sœur’. In this sentence, the sisters are arguing with each other -  it conveys ‘she (herself), with her sister. It is not one way traffic with one sister ‘telling off’ the other. The pronominal 'se' is the direct object. https://www.wordreference.com/fren/disputer