Observés

Observés is the masculine plural past participle of the French verb observer. In standard usage it functions as an adjective meaning “that has been observed,” and it can also appear in noun phrases to refer to a group of subjects or items that have been observed in a study or analysis.

Morphology and agreement are central to its use. The forms are observé (masc. sing.), observés (masc. pl.), observée (fem. sing.), and observées (fem. pl.). When used as a participle with the auxiliary verb avoir in compound tenses, the participle agrees with a preceding direct object, as in les observations que j’ai observées. When used as an adjective before a noun, it agrees in gender and number with that noun, as in les phénomènes observés.

In practice, observés appears frequently in scientific, social science, and scholarly writing. Common phrases include les résultats observés, les phénomènes observés, and les sujets observés, all referring to items or individuals that have been observed or recorded during an investigation or experiment.

Etymologically, observés derives from the verb observer, which itself comes from the Latin observare, meaning to watch, notice, or attend to. The linguistic pattern mirrors other French participles ending in -é, with the same rules of agreement that apply to adjectives and past participles in compound tenses.