A spelling reform has been considered for several years. It aims in particular to eliminate one of the most difficult rules for children to understand: less than 20% master it in primary school.
French is a complex language, made up of exceptions, arbitrary grammatical agreements and spelling rules that are confusing to say the least. But there is one rule that disturbs little schoolchildren (and their parents!) even more than the others: the agreement of the past participle.
Little reminder. We always agree the past participle with the verb to be. Example: Margot went to have lunch with her cousin. But we never agree with the verb avoir. Example: Margot ate with her cousin. Except when the COD (direct object) is placed before the verb. In this case, we agree the past participle with the COD in question (and not with the subject… Are you still following?). Thus, we will write: “The apple pie that Pierre ate with his cousin was delicious” (on the other hand, we will write: “Pierre ate a delicious apple pie with his cousin”). And all this without mentioning the particularities of agreement of pronominal verbs…
According to a report from the CSEN (Scientific Council of National Education) published in June 2024 and entitled “Rationalizing the spelling of French to teach it better”, less than 20% of primary school students master this rule. The CSEN is therefore positioning itself today for the pure and simple abolition of this rule, a source of too many mistakes and incomprehension, and proposes to limit the agreement of the past participle to two rules: systematically granting the auxiliary “to be ” with the subject and NEVER agree the past participle with “have”.
This is not a new proposal, on the contrary. For several years now, linguists and French teachers in France, Belgium and even Canada have been speaking out in favor of reforming the rule of past participle agreement. For the moment, this is only a suggestion intended to improve the spelling of young schoolchildren… The students could be relieved, but this proposal could also shock more than one French person, who loves the language of Molière.