We read that certain school teachers of the French language are calling for a change to the way some past participles are formed.
As we all know when a verb is conjugated with "être" its past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number - eg "les femmes sont allées". But normally when the verb is conjugated with "avoir" there is no need to make the pp agree.
Except when the object precedes the pp. So not "les crèpes que j'ai mangé", but "les crèpes que j'ai mangées". Obviously "j'ai mangé les crèpes" is correct because the object comes after the verb conjugated with "avoir".
It seems that this polemic will continue as there is no suggestion that either the Academie Francaise or its Belgian equivalent are about to embrace the change and simplify this aspect of French orthography. But next time you do a "dictée" watch out for it, it's a common trap.
Sadly we at Taglines were not aware of this arcane usage and must have committed so many errors over the years. 0/20.
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