assisté
assisté is the French word for attended.
The term assisté is used in the context of assister à to describe being present at events such as meetings, concerts or lectures. However, do not use this phrase for attending school or a university. For those contexts, you should use fréquenter or aller à.
Which one should you use?
It is important to distinguish between the two meanings of the verb assister. When used with the preposition à (assister à), it means to attend an event. Without the preposition à, the verb assister means to assist or to help.
How does it change in a sentence?
When assisté is used as a past participle with the auxiliary verb avoir, it does not agree with the subject of the sentence.
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often forget that when assister means to attend something, it requires the preposition à.
Did you know?
- In contemporary French slang, the adjective assisté is often used as a biting insult to describe someone who is perceived as 'living off the state' or overly reliant on welfare.
- The word assister is a cognate of the English word 'assist', but it shifted in French to include the meaning of 'being present' based on the Latin 'assistere', meaning 'to stand by'.
- In legal contexts, assister can mean to provide legal counsel to a defendant in court, rather than simply being present in the room.
Examples in context
- Ils y ont assisté.They attended it.This sentence is useful for showing how to use the pronoun y with assisté.Tatoeba #2837487 by nimfeo, translation #8538077 by LeeSooHa
- J'ai assisté au séminaire.I attended the seminar.This sentence shows how to use the preposition au with assisté.Tatoeba #7327147 by Aiji, translation #3820899 by CK
- Une grande foule y a assisté.A large crowd attended.This sentence demonstrates how a crowd can be the subject that attended an event.Tatoeba #6211136 by nimfeo, translation #4495849 by CK
- J'ai participé à la réunion hier.I attended the meeting yesterday.
- Il a assisté à la conférence sur l'art contemporain.He attended the conference on contemporary art.
- Je me suis rendu à l'assemblée générale de l'entreprise.I attended the company's general assembly.
- On est allé à la fête hier soir.We attended the party last night.
- J'ai participé à la cérémonie de remise des prix.I attended the award ceremony.
- On est allé au spectacle de danse ce soir.We attended the dance performance tonight.
- Nous nous sommes rendus à la fête d'anniversaire de Pierre.We attended Pierre's birthday party.
- 24 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Léa and Lucas are discussing a conference they both went to.
- LéaTu as assisté à la conférence hier ?Did you attend the conference yesterday?
- LucasOui, j'ai assisté à toute la journée.Yes, I attended the whole day.
- LéaC'était intéressant ?Was it interesting?
- LucasOui, c'était vraiment instructif.Yes, it was really instructive.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
