FRENCH PAST PARTICIPLES
THE FRENCH PAST PARTICIPLE
HOW TO FORM THE PAST PARTICIPLE OF A FRENCH VERB
What is the past participle of a verb?
- In English, it is the “-ed” form of a verb (he has walked/talked/written etc.).
- In French, it takes different forms depending on the ending of the verb, and just like in English, we use it to form compound tenses such as the passé composé, the plus que parfait, the past infinitive and others.
Here’s how to form the past participle of a French verb:
- For -ER ending verbs, we change the ending to -É (Ex: PARLER becomes PARLÉ)
- For -IR ending verbs, we change the ending to -I (Ex: CHOISIR becomes CHOISI)
- For -RE ending verbs, we generally change the ending to -U but not always! (Ex: RENDRE becomes RENDU but PRENDRE becomes PRIS)
The not so good news?… Well, there are a lot of irregular past participles that you just have to memorize. Here’s the list!
acquérir (to acquire) – acquis naître (to be born) – né
apprendre (to learn) – appris offrir (to offer) – offert
avoir (to have) – eu ouvrir (to open) – ouvert
boire (to drink) – bu peindre (to paint) – peint
comprendre (to understand) – compris plaire (to please) – plu
conduire (to drive) – conduit pleuvoir (to rain) – plu
craindre (to fear) – craint pouvoir (can, to be able to) – pu
devoir (must, have to) – dû prendre (to take) – pris
dire (to say) – dit recevoir (to receive) – reçu
écrire (to write) – écrit rire (to laugh) – ri
être (to be) – été savoir (to know) – su
faire (to do) – fait suivre (to follow) – suivi
falloir (to have to) – fallu vivre (to live) – vécu
lire (to read) – lu voir (to see) – vu
mettre (to put) – mis vaincre (to vanquish) – vaincu
mourir (to die) – mort vouloir (to want) – voulu
Et voilà! You know all there is to know about French past participles! Just make good use of them now!
Soso
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