trié

Trié is the past participle of the French verb trier, which means to sort, select, or separate. In contemporary usage, trié also functions as an adjective meaning sorted, arranged, or carefully selected. The word appears in writing and speech when describing items that have been organized or filtered.

Morphology and agreement are straightforward in French. The masculine singular form is trié, the feminine singular triée, the masculine plural triés, and the feminine plural triées. When the participle is used with the auxiliary être or avoir in compound tenses, agreement with gender and number follows standard rules: with the auxiliary avoir, the participle generally does not agree with the subject but agrees with a preceding direct object. For example, J'ai trié les documents (no agreement), whereas Les documents que j'ai triés expriment l’action with a preceding direct object that governs agreement.

Common usage includes both literal sorting and figurative selection. In everyday language, you may encounter phrases such as un fichier trié (a sorted file) or des dossiers triés (sorted folders). The expression trié sur le volet means carefully selected or handpicked, emphasizing meticulous curation.

Etymologically, trié derives from the verb trier, itself meaning to sort or pick out, with roots in Old French. The term remains widely used across domains such as administration, logistics, data processing, and recruitment, where organization and selection are important.

In sum, trié denotes something that has been sorted or carefully chosen, and it functions both as a verb participle and as an adjective in modern French grammar.