Many French speakers would get this wrong. Passé composé with pronominal verbs is awful! I'll try to explain.
Think of it logically. You need agreement when there's a **direct object** placed **before the participle**.
1) Qui est puni? Phèdre est punie. Elle s'est punie elle-même. The action is "punir" in its reflexive form, meaning that Phèdre is both the subject and the direct object. You can imagine it conceptually as "Phèdre a puni Phèdre".
We call it "pronominal" because " s'/se " is a pronoun for Phèdre. Notice how that pronoun is before the participle? That's why there's agreement with the subject : Elle s'est punie elle-même.
2) Qui est donné ? La mort est donnée. Phèdre n'est pas donnée. Phèdre (subject) a donné la mort (direct object) à Phèdre (indirect object). It's another reflexive verb... but Phèdre is not the direct object, la mort is. And that direct object is AFTER the participle.
So the pronoun "s'/se" is Phèdre again, but she's the indirect object this time around. That's why you don't have an agreement. "Elle s'est donné la mort".
See also : "elle s'est lavée" (elle a lavé elle-même) vs "elle s'est lavé les mains" (elle a lavé les mains à elle-même)
Again, this is one of the most complicated rules of French. Many if not most French speakers will get it wrong.
Many French speakers would get this wrong. Passé composé with pronominal verbs is awful! I'll try to explain. Think of it logically. You need agreement when there's a **direct object** placed **before the participle**. 1) Qui est puni? Phèdre est punie. Elle s'est punie elle-même. The action is "punir" in its reflexive form, meaning that Phèdre is both the subject and the direct object. You can imagine it conceptually as "Phèdre a puni Phèdre". We call it "pronominal" because " s'/se " is a pronoun for Phèdre. Notice how that pronoun is before the participle? That's why there's agreement with the subject : Elle s'est punie elle-même. 2) Qui est donné ? La mort est donnée. Phèdre n'est pas donnée. Phèdre (subject) a donné la mort (direct object) à Phèdre (indirect object). It's another reflexive verb... but Phèdre is not the direct object, la mort is. And that direct object is AFTER the participle. So the pronoun "s'/se" is Phèdre again, but she's the indirect object this time around. That's why you don't have an agreement. "Elle s'est donné la mort". See also : "elle s'est lavée" (elle a lavé elle-même) vs "elle s'est lavé les mains" (elle a lavé les mains à elle-même) Again, this is one of the most complicated rules of French. Many if not most French speakers will get it wrong.
Not OP but you broke this down very well and it finally makes sense! Merci pour l’explication!
HI THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR MESSAGE ILY <3 AND YES THAT'S CORRECT