When demeurer means to remain in a state of being it takes être.
See also Agreeing past participle with subject's gender and number with (+ être) verbs in Le Passé Composé
When demeurer means to remain or live somewhere it takes avoir.
Je suis demeuré impassible pendant toute cette conversation.
I remained expressionless during all this conversation.
J'ai demeuré à Paris toute ma vie.
I lived in Paris all my life.
Il a demeuré à Paris pendant quelques mois.
He lived in Paris for a few months.
Elle est demeurée silencieuse pendant tout le trajet.
She remained silent the whole trip.
J'ai demeuré chez lui pendant une semaine.
I stayed at his house for a week.
In your lesson you say that demeurer, when used in the perfect tense with avoir or être, behaves in the opposite way to other two meaning verbs. Is that right? Does it not behave in the same way, ie. it takes être when intransitive and avoir when transitive?
Sorry, perhaps this is not right. For example, il a demeuré à Paris is an example of intransitive avoir use.
So, is the rule that we use être when the usage is intransitive and expresses a state of being?
Hi John,
Well spotted!
Let's look at the verb demeurer -
When it doesn't mean to reside somewhere but to remain, it will take the auxiliary être and it is a verb of state (describing a continuation of state like rester ) :
Nous sommes demeurés perplexes devant sa réaction
When it means to reside or live somewhere, it will take the auxiliary avoir -
Nous avons demeuré à Londres pendant dix ans
The same can be said for the verb 'vivre', but it is one of those verbs which are more pliable as it can be transitive, intransitive but takes 'avoir' regardless, very odd!
Vivre heureux, vivre dans la misère , vivre une belle expérience ---->
Nous avons vécu heureux , il a vécu dans une misère incroyable, Ils ont vécu une belle expérience ensemble etc.
Hope this helps!
In your lesson you say that demeurer, when used in the perfect tense with avoir or être, behaves in the opposite way to other two meaning verbs. Is that right? Does it not behave in the same way, ie. it takes être when intransitive and avoir when transitive?
Sorry, perhaps this is not right. For example, il a demeuré à Paris is an example of intransitive avoir use.
So, is the rule that we use être when the usage is intransitive and expresses a state of being?
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So "demeurer" sounds "posh"? What about "habiter"? Don't they mean the same thing?
Hi George,
Yes, you would use 'habiter' or 'demeurer' to say where you reside but habiter is a more straight forward verb which only takes 'avoir' in past tenses.
So "demeurer" sounds "posh"? What about "habiter"? Don't they mean the same thing?
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Je suis aussi tombé sur cette pierre d'achoppement.
Je me trouve, depuis que demeurer ne corresponde pas au modèle des verbes transitif ou intransitif, vous devez remuer cet avis. N'est pas?
Je suis aussi tombé sur cette pierre d'achoppement.
Je me trouve, depuis que demeurer ne corresponde pas au modèle des verbes transitif ou intransitif, vous devez remuer cet avis. N'est pas?
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Hi Tim,
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you...
Demeurer as your rightly point out is an odd one as it doesn't really fit into the usual transitive and intransitive category of verbs which take avoir or être.
However, it does mean two different things and use both auxiliaries depending on its meaning.
Maybe a better way of thinking about it is :
When the verb demeurer describes a state it will take 'être' and when it describes an action, it will take 'avoir'.
However, this is just a particularity of that verb and there is no need to sweat over as you will often use other verbs to describe the same meaning, rester in the case of the state of being ,
Je suis demeuré/resté bouche bée = I stayed open mouthed
and vivre/habiter for the action,
Nous avons demeuré/vécu/habité rue St Martin pendant dix ans = We lived in Rue St Martin for ten years
You will find exceptions to all rules so this is very perceptive of you...'Vivre' is the same , intransitive but takes 'avoir'
J'ai vécu = I have lived
Hope this helps!
Hi Tim,
The explanation of why demeurer behaves differently from transitive and intransitive verbs has been modified in this lesson. I hope it meets with your satisfaction...
Cecile's answer to Tim really helped me. I was also confused about the opposite behaviour of demeurer relative to other verbs that use etre or avoir depending on context. It would be very helpful if the lesson was altered to explicitly state that this verb is odd - all the other lessons state that if the verb is followed by a preposition (en, sur, dans, à etc) the auxillary is etre, but that is not the case for demeurer (e.g. Il a demeuré à Paris pendant quelques mois.). Explaining that it breaks the rules, and adding the core of Cecile's explanation would avert confusion. This comment from Cecile was particularly helpful: "When the verb demeurer describes a state it will take 'être' and when it describes an action, it will take 'avoir'."
Hi all,
The lesson is going to be adapted and your comments will be taken into consideration.
Thank you very much for pointing those out...
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Hi Sam,
In French you will often find verbs which have different meanings. Grammatically they use different auxilliary verbs to conjugate in the past enabling us to tell their meaning apart. As Ron says French is a rich, verbose language which has many layers.
Demeurer ( with Avoir) is this case will be used to mean, to reside somewhere, but you will mostly hear the simpler habiter or vivre in spoken language .
In the other sense of staying (with Etre) you will probably mostly use "rester" in spoken language,
e.g. Elle est restée muette devant sa réaction rather than, elle est demeurée muette devant sa réaction.
Hope this helps!
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