resté

Resté is the past participle of the French verb rester, meaning to stay or to remain. It is used to form compound tenses such as the passé composé with the auxiliary être, and it can also function as an adjective in certain constructions. The form is common in everyday French and appears in many idiomatic expressions.

Verb usage and agreement: When rester is used in compound tenses with être, the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number. Examples: je suis resté(e); tu es resté(e); il est resté, elle est restée; nous sommes restés/restées; vous êtes resté(s)/restées; ils sont restés, elles sont restées. The basic sense is “stayed” or “remained.”

Adjective use and idioms: Resté can function adjectivally to describe a state resulting from staying or remaining, especially predicatively: il est resté sans voix; elle est restée fidèle. It is less common to use resté as a pre-nominal adjective; instead, other forms like restant or le reste are used for “remaining” or “the rest” (reste is the noun).

Semantics and nuances: The term is often found in phrases indicating location or condition, such as “il est resté là” (he stayed there) or “la partie restante du gâteau” (the remaining part of the cake). It can also convey persistence, as in “rester fidèle” or “rester sur ses positions.”

Etymology: The verb derives from Old French rester and ultimately from Latin restāre, meaning to remain. The past participle resté reflects standard French morphology for -er verbs, with the accent on é appearing in all forms.