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Most verbs use either avoir or être as the auxiliary verb in Le Passé Composé (Indicatif) (or other compound tense), but descendre uses both, depending on its grammatical usage* and what it means in the sentence.
*Grammaphile's Corner : the technical grammatical distinction between these cases is actually whether the verb is used in a transitive or intransitive manner.
- The transitive version (the version with a direct object) uses avoir.
- The intransitive version (lacking a direct object), uses être.
- The transitive version (the version with a direct object) uses avoir.
- The intransitive version (lacking a direct object), uses être.
When to use "avoir" or "être" with the verb "descendre" in French
être + descendu [de, sur, etc]
= to get off [something]
= to get out of [something/somewhere]
= to go/come down from/to/into [something/somewhere]
Note that in each case where être is the auxilliary, the verb descendre is followed by a preposition (en, sur, de, dans, à etc.).
In these cases descendre is usually about getting off [something], getting out of [something] or coming down from [somewhere].
In these cases descendre is usually about getting off [something], getting out of [something] or coming down from [somewhere].
avoir + descendu [quelque chose] ou [quelqu'un]
= to go/come/climb down [something]
= to take [something] down -> physically move [something] to a lower position
= to take [someone / animated being] down -> to shoot down, kill
= to knock back [a drink]
Hier soir, on a descendu quelques bières dans le jardin.Last night, we knocked back a few beers in the garden.
-> Here it literally means You took Pierre's present down (somewhere), which in a geographical context implies down a physical level, such as down some stairs or in the elevator. Therefore in English, you would translate it as downstairs when no clear destination (e.g. to the basement) is expressed.
When descendre is followed immediately by a noun (as opposed to a preposition), it uses avoir as the auxiliary, like most verbs.
It can be very tricky to get the distinction here if you think in terms of what descendre means in English. English verbs are very often 'prepositional', meaning we say things like to get off a plane as well as disembark from a boat which are equivalent in meaning but grammatically very different - our verbs very often have prepositions where they don't in French! So, ask yourself if there's a preposition in the French, not the English!
Here is the list of all "two-auxiliary" verbs in compound tenses:
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